NXP, Gemalto, and Ingenico have come out on top within ABI Research’s latest Competitive Assessment, which consists of market shares and three specific vendor matrices focused on secure ICs, smart cards, and POS/mobile card reader vendors (view press release). The three vendors achieved above average scores within the implementation category measuring global presence, breadth of services, partnership strengths, influence and standards (EMV and PCI) compliance.

Gemalto’s contactless readiness and NFC developments proved a winning point within the innovation category. The company is active in contactless and NFC and has participated in over 45 NFC trials to date, with a range of contactless payment cards already deploying within Brazil, Poland, and the UK.

NXP has shown dominance within the transportation and ticketing, and access control markets which have given it the edge over its competitors when it comes to market convergence. The ability to leverage an existing large-scale client base for additional NFC emulation gives NXP added value and the potential to be a major beneficiary of NFC driven market convergence.

Ingenico’s high innovation score was primarily driven by a broad contactless availability, a robust mobile POS solution targeted at higher-end clients, along with established strategic partnerships with all the major payment networks including PayPal - a potential payment network disrupter.

“Vendor competition within the payments market continues to heat up. As the market reaches higher levels of EMV penetration, the importance will shift to innovation. Contactless and NFC will become increasingly important and the next natural step in EMV progression from initial migration,” said Phil Sealy author of the Competitive Assessment. “Having a proven contactless product line with innovative convergent solutions at the forefront of new developments will be key to future success within the payments market.”