Instead of fumbling with cash or pulling out a credit card, you whip out a smartphone. Inside the handset are chips that make nice with the store’s register, and a digital wallet app holds virtual replicas of your plastic debit, credit and loyalty cards. You tap the screen to choose which one you want to use to pay for your purchases, then confirm the amount. An instant later, the transaction is complete.
If the digital future pans out the way that leading banks, credit card issuers, wireless carriers and tech companies hope, scenarios like this could become common.
Folks rarely leave home without their keys, wallets and cellphones. The thinking behind the next advancement in mobile payments — and it’s likely to take years before this vision goes mainstream — is that all three can be merged into one.
“The promise of the mobile wallet is you’ll be able to manage your entire financial life from a single device,” says Andy Schmidt, research director for commercial banking and payments at TowerGroup.
Google took a major step toward making this a reality in May with the unveiling of the Google Wallet test pilot. Its financial, retail and technology partners include Citi, MasterCard, First Data, Sprint, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, RadioShack, Subway, Toys R Us, VeriFone and Walgreens.
Meanwhile, the rival ISIS mobile commerce network — formed in November among major wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless— has struck agreements with American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover. Visa’s own e-wallet is scheduled to be available by year’s end.
Mobile payments can take many forms, and the field is wide open. Several well-known companies, as well as a number of start-ups you’ve never heard of, are jockeying to be the lead dog in this rush to make paying via cellphone practical.
Last spring, American Express launched the Serve digital payments platform that allows person-to-person payments over mobile phones, online or at merchants that typically accept regular AmEx cards. Serve pits AmEx against the likes of PayPal. Recently announced partners include Sprint and Verizon Wireless.
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2 Responses
This article is a perfect example of why the bans of the internet are unrealistic. Every day, we get a little closer to a virtual society. Before long, you’ll need to log on to start your car or open your refrigerator. Credit cards and metro cards will go the way of the subway token.
Cash will be king in the frum community. NO INTERNET, NO SMART PHONES, NO TUMAH!