There’s a cold war going on in the technology world. As smartphones become ubiquitous and online shopping grows, tech companies and payment companies are arming themselves for battle over how people pay for things.

Their shared goal is to take a hammer to the inconvenience of traditional paper and plastic payments. They want our smartphones to act as electronic credit cards using near-field communication technology. They want online stores to accept a login and password instead of full payment details. Eventually, even our computers may act as payment kiosks, so we can press a phone against a laptop to make purchases online.

Just one problem: So many companies want in on the digital payment revolution that they may have to duke it out with each other before it can happen.