most convenient interface for most people, it has a decent future. Decoupled debit becomes the dominant retail e-payment mechanism, taking us into the grey area of the "something present" (SP) transaction beyond the current black-and-white-again Card Present (CP) and Card Not Present (CNP) world. Just as cards replaced cheques, yet cheques still exist, so tokens (such as, obviously, mobile phones) will replace cards. Not instantly (after all, I still have a chequebook at home somewhere, even though I don't remember where it is and only write about two cheques per annum) but in time. But the token serves only to identify you, not the payment system. Going via these waypoints, then, we arrive at a plausible vision for retail payments: you tell the retailer who you are, the retailer ask for money, your payment provider sends it to them and then obtains the money from you via whichever mechanism has been negotiated between you. But, crucially, how you pay and how the merchant gets paid are now entirely separate. If this sounds like an extreme prediction to you, then I'd suggestion a William Gibson-style review of the unevenly-distributed innovation going on in that space right now. Take, for example, the pressure from retailers to do just this, because they want to go straight to your bank account and not bother dealing with acquirers, processors, schemes, interchange or anything else. Fast Forward is a breakthrough new way to pay for your groceries and gas without having to carry any cash, checks