With buzzwords like “NFC” and “mobile wallet” thrown about in the press ad nauseam, consumers and the mobile and financial industries are looking for who will emerge the winner in the effort to control mobile money – and there’s a great deal of money to be had if it’s done right. But as often as the mobile wallet is lauded for its convenience, it’s derided as “a solution in search of a problem.” Ultimately, in order to meet the real needs of consumers, wallet-makers need to stop focusing solely on the technologies of mobile payments, and actually look at what will drive usage: a mobile solution that is actually worth having. This doesn’t yet exist, but it could, if application developers create tools that actually change the way merchants and consumers feel, think, spend and save money. We will discuss what the true opportunity is for the mobile wallet and the elements that need to be included to move beyond technologies like NFC, to delivering the customer benefit to end users.