By Andy Williams, Contributing Editor

After two-plus years of pilots in various parts of the U.S., each of the big three credit card providers rolled out their own contactless payment version last year. So, after a year in operation how are things going?

Actually, since the pat answer from all three is "very well, better than expected, etc." the better question would be, what's next? A lot, as it turns out, from different form factors, including watches, to use of mobile phones as a payment medium, to tapping and going your way through the New York Metro turnstile.