Page created: May 9, 2026
A documented record of Philip Andreae’s mobile wallet invention — from the first concept in 1996 to the modern digital wallet ecosystem.
The phrase “mobile wallet” is now ubiquitous. Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and dozens of bank apps carry it. But the idea was not born in Cupertino. It was born in Brussels, in 1996, inside the offices of Europay International — and it was proposed by Philip E. Andreae.
This page is a provenance record. It documents the chain of prior art from the original concept through successive technical elaborations, in the event that authorship matters — to a court, to a standards body, to a historian, or to the record itself.
1996 — Europay: The First Concept
What: While employed at Europay International — one of the founding partners of the EMV standard — Philip Andreae was authorized to develop and present a concept for a mobile wallet: a device that would carry all a person’s payment cards, identity credentials, and digital relationships.
Why it matters: This predates the smartphone era entirely. In 1996, the dominant vision of mobile commerce was SMS. Philip was proposing secure element-based credential storage in a mobile device a decade before the iPhone existed.
Archive evidence: A 2010 Wayback Machine snapshot confirms the original presentation was still publicly accessible online fourteen years after creation.
2006–2007 — My Wallet 2: The Device Architecture
What: A decade after the Europay concept, Philip developed My Wallet 2 — a fully specified device architecture and business plan for a mobile wallet product.
The architecture:
- Form factor: a 5-card brick — the size of five stacked credit cards
- Front face: touchscreen — hardwired directly to the Secure Element (the SE resides in the brick; the front face carries no secure element of its own)
- Back face: ePaper display for credential presentation without battery drain
- Sensors: fingerprint scanner, high-definition 3D camera
- Connectivity: QR, BLE, NFC, WiFi, 3G/4G (now 5G)
- Function: communicate payment credentials, digital identity, digital signatures to any counterparty in a digital relationship
Context: The iPhone launched in June 2007. My Wallet 2 was conceived before it. Apple Pay launched in 2014. Google Wallet launched in 2011. My Wallet 2 predates both by five or more years.
2009–2010 — CanDo: Ecosystem Architecture
What: CanDo extended the My Wallet device concept into a full ecosystem model — connecting consumers, issuers, merchants, and governments through the mobile wallet as the trust anchor.
Why it matters: CanDo anticipated the multi-party wallet ecosystem that Apple Pay, Google Pay, and central bank digital currency systems are still trying to solve today. The architecture included issuer-side credential management, merchant acceptance infrastructure, and government identity integration.
2018 — Authentication Doctrine: FIDO, Secure Element, NIST 800-63
What: Philip’s 2018 presentation series — delivered to financial institutions, standards bodies, and the Secure Technology Alliance — codified the cryptographic architecture underlying the wallet concept.
Key documents:
- To Assure Your Identity: What You Need Is a Secure Element Inside — covering symmetric/asymmetric cryptography, the Secure Element, FIDO, and NIST 800-63 AAL-3
- Multi-Factor Authentication to Assure Security in a Virtual & Physical World — something you have, something you know, something you are
2026 — The Retrospective: Synthesis
Philip’s May 2026 essay The Evolution of the Digital Wallet: From Smart Cards to iPhone synthesizes the full thirty-year arc — from the Europay concept through EMV, NFC, the iPhone, Apple Pay, and the current mobile wallet landscape — placing Philip’s prior art in its historical context.
Prior Art Timeline
| Year | Artifact | Significance |
| 1996 | Europay mobile wallet concept | Original conception — phone as multi-credential device |
| 2006–2007 | My Wallet 2 architecture | Full device specification: SE, ePaper, biometrics, NFC, BLE |
| 2009–2010 | CanDo ecosystem model | Multi-party wallet ecosystem: issuers, merchants, governments |
| 2018 | FIDO / Secure Element presentations | Cryptographic doctrine — the wallet’s identity layer |
| 2026 | Digital Wallet retrospective essay | Intellectual synthesis of thirty years of prior art |
Philip E. Andreae is available to discuss this prior art record in the context of advisory, consulting, licensing, or legal proceedings. Contact →
Senior Advisor Profile → | My Wallet → | FIDO & Authentication → | Payments Work →