Absolutely. ITSO smartcards have been heralded as the future for many years now, but in reality have only really been deployed widely for season tickets. I fear a similar fate of false starts and 'promise the moon' disappointments for eTickets.
+1 here.
I've posted on this forum before that, as a paying customer, I find electronic ticketing in general, and smartcards in particular, a confusing mess, with inconsistent standards from different TOCs and uncertain (at best) acceptance across other TOCs.
When I've done so, I've been told by industry insiders that I'm wrong, and that full compatibility is just around the corner. Unfortunately, that corner never seems to be turned.
This week I'm travelling around England and Wales, on a sequence of advance tickets. And I have a little (physical) wallet, full of pieces of orange cardboard, that can't mysteriously disappear as long as I'm careful with them (which I am). And that's the way it's staying, for me, as long as they're still allowed.