And yet it is progressing. See Europe. This despite lackluster support from big banks.

> What you are missing is the massive infrastructure investment in retail terminals.

No, I'm not. Not at all. I'm well aware of it. I'm also well aware that they get replaced quite frequently. And virtually every retail terminal I've seen in the last few years is new enough that if the banks had started the push for a smartcard technology when it initially became viable, terminal compatibility would be near 100%.

Did you think there had to be some magic cutover date? There doesn't. Hybrid cards can be used for 5, 10, even 20 years if necessary, with gradual pressure applied to retailers to adopt new equipment they haven't already replaced (or received new, stores come and go) through a reduction in fees for transactions completed via smartcard.

The point is to make actual progress and eventually arrive at a reasonable destination. Right now, we're just sitting on our hands.