Money2020 just might be the smash hit in the world of financeindustry conferences. In its first iteration, in late October atthe Aria in Las Vegas, it sold out, drawing 2,000+ attendees and itfielded an expo hall stuffed with huge booths from PayPal, GoogleWallet, American Express and other all-stars in the sector.

Attendees, too, were power brokers – very senior executives atDiscover, Visa, Walmart, Bank of America, and down a list of peoplewho matter in shaping what money will look like in just a fewyears.

So what did you miss?

* Google Wallet Wants Your Business

Don't think this product is only for the biggest banks and a fewmammoth credit unions. At Money2020 Google management made a directplea to credit unions to contact them. “You can be live in theWallet in a week,” Google promised.

What that means is your credit card art will be uploaded invivid detail.

Your costs? Zilch, from Google, which also does not want a sliceof any payments fees (“we are not another mouth to feed,” saidGoogle Wallet vice president Osama Bedier).

Google wants to make its money from advertising. Period.

The only drawback: Near Field Communication – which powers Google Wallet – isstill thin on the ground. Very few devices have it and not manymore merchants do.

But when they do, you'll be ahead of the curve.

What if NFC flops (see below)? No worry. At Money2020, Googleindicated it was looking at “bridging technologies” such as QRcodes – meaning Google is preparing for a Wallet that may existindependently of NFC.

* What's Up With Isis?

Isis – the NFC-powered mobile payment system launched byAT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile – announced it had opened its pilotsin Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City on Day 1 of Money2020 and justabout nobody cared.

The sense seemed strong that for Isis – an oft-delayed joint venture that many doubt has achance of succeeding because the partners are arch enemies – tomatter it had to wow in its pilot and that, said some experts atMoney2020, seemed improbable. Only a handful of Isis ready phonesare for sale. Only “hundreds” of merchants are participating, perthe Isis press release. And Isis is not on the iPhone.

Call Isis' future doubtful.

* EMV May Be In Trouble

Mike Cook, the payments guru at Walmart, said it an aside on apanel: He does not see EMV – the chip and PIN upgrade to mag stripes that many takefor granted by 2015 in the U.S. –

having a role at Walmart. Ever. To Cook, EMV is just building ona flawed base, the traditional plastic credit card. He sees themobile phone as a dazzler – it theoretically can be a powerfulidentifier – and that is what excites him.

He made it plain that Walmart would not spend its dollarsinstalling system A today, then ripping it out in favor B tomorrow.When Walmart puts its money to work. it wants a system that willlast and, said Cook, that isn't EMV.

* Bluebird May Be Your Vulture

At BAI Retail Delivery a few weeks ago, right after Walmart andAmerican Express announced the launch of the no-fee Bluebird payment account, the sense among bankers was thatBluebird would sing a dirge on Green Dot's grave but bankers – andby extension, credit unions – had little to worry about this product that seemed to be aimed atthe underbanked and unbanked.

Think again. Bluebird executives at Money2020 insisted thatBluebird is for everybody, especially anybody fed up with paying$100 and up in annual fees for a checking or share draft account,since most of those customers can find ways to get Bluebird feefree. Credit unions may have less exposure here since free sharedraft accounts continue to be the rule.

But remember: Bluebird is free for just about everything: mobileremote deposit capture, person- to-person payments and online billpay.

Bluebird also will give users the opportunity to use paperchecks beginning early in 2013, said executives.

Bluebird has its critics – it has no branches and no FDICcoverage – but talk at Money2020 seemed focused on how it just mayforce big changes in how financial institutions serve the hugemiddle class, and that could have wide impacts.

* “It has to be exciting”

What has held back adoption of mobile payments and mobilewallets so far? Speakers at Money2020 fingered consumer concernsabout security but the other issues are that, so far, the availabletools aren't easy to use and they are not exciting.

But that day, said speakers, is coming. Soon.

Truth: right now, very few of us have bought anything with a tapof a phone or a tablet. Even at Money2020, when a speaker asked theaudience how many had done so, only a scattering of hands went up.But that is changing, very fast.

Just five years into the smartphone revolution triggered by theiPhone launch in 2007, already half the U.S. population now owns asmartphone. The triumph of mobile phones at retail is inevitable,agreed most Money2020 speakers, and it will happen much sooner thananybody would have thought just a few years back.

Make mobile commerce exciting and they will come.

• ALSO at MONEY2020: Google Wallet Path to Domination
• ALSO at MONEY2020: Mitek CEO Sees Bill Pay by SmartphoneCamera
• ALSO at MONEY2020: Isis Chatter at Las VegasConference
• ALSO at MONEY2020: PayPal, Google Gurus Fire Away
• ALSO at MONEY2020: Bluebird Takes to Vegas Stage