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Visa officially announces their case that turns your iPhone into a credit card

36 points by mahipal 16y ago

vegashacker 16y ago
It seems like a lot to add a brand new case to your iPhone just to replace one card (which it doesn't even do, since you still have to use your regular Visa card at most businesses).
- smiler 16y ago
  Agreed. What exactly does this add?
  - njharman 16y ago
    Hype.
  - qq66 16y ago
    It helps test the market for integrating payments into phones, telling Visa whether it's worth the cost of building the technology and the organizational headaches required to make that happen.
stcredzero 16y ago
It would be much better as an App. There's a lot of thought that goes into buying a case for expensive kit like an iPhone. I doubt Visa is going to be able to interpose itself like this.
- borisk 16y ago
  The case is needed because the iPhone doesn't yet have an NFC chip(unlike http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-6131-nfc/technical-specifications http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-6131-nfc...). Once Apple adds a chip this will be just an app.
  - stcredzero 16y ago
    Why couldn't this be implemented as an app over Bonjour and WiFi? Use NFC if it's there, but requiring the case is just a little too much to expect.
    - borisk 16y ago
      With NFC your credit card information is only stored in encrypted form. Implementing a regular app with payment functionality will make it a lot easier to steal this data.
    - eli 16y ago
      Not if you want it to be compatible with the many thousands of existing contactless payment terminals
DrSprout 16y ago
I'm in deep enough shit as it is if my Droid is lost or destroyed. Smartphones are great in that they replace a lot of things I used to have to carry. "Wallet" is not one I want to add to the list.
kwamenum86 16y ago
Great news for consumers. Interesting news for Square.
- davidedicillo 16y ago
  they should enable bump payments :) Funny thing is that it would bring us back to the original Paypal idea of beaming money
sriram_sun 16y ago
I'd like a "wallet" from which I can use whatever card I want to.
djb_hackernews 16y ago
Uh, if you have a card that is no swipe, just stick it inside the case and no swipe away. No need to clog up your microsd slot and have a stupid app on top of that to use it.
- jodrellblank 16y ago
  Which microsd slot on your iPhone are you clogging up, exactly?
AGorilla 16y ago
This will not get widely adopted until Visa gets their H out of their A and makes the case look decent and not be bulky. They can fit this stuff into a tiny keyring, why does this case add an extra 4 inches to the bottom of the phone? Attention everybody: STOP MAKING UGLY PHONE CASES
kellogs 16y ago
pretty unnecessary & exclusive in my opinion. unnecessary, because 1) generally you need to carry some baseline amount of cash and a credit card. the credit card is not really a burden in the wallet. 2) "which credit card" to take is hardly a problem, you don't generally spend above the limit of your credit card in a single day 3) the iphone can get stolen just as easily as a credit card, and in such cases it is more expensive to replace than simply locking up the card and getting a new one. exclusive because, the app is just designed for the iPhone, there are many users without iPhone, android, or blackberry. they should be given the same ease of use.
aidenn0 16y ago
Anyone else tickled pink by the line "...like someone from the future and/or Japan?"
lidmith 16y ago
I didn't read it (I don't have an iPhone, and I would carry a wallet even if I did), but when I read the title of this submission, I imagined a box that compressed your iPhone into the shape of a credit card. Then I looked at the name of the site it linked too..

36 points by mahipal 16y ago

It seems like a lot to add a brand new case to your iPhone just to replace one card (which it doesn't even do, since you still have to use your regular Visa card at most businesses).

smiler 16y ago
Agreed. What exactly does this add?
- njharman 16y ago
  Hype.
- qq66 16y ago
  It helps test the market for integrating payments into phones, telling Visa whether it's worth the cost of building the technology and the organizational headaches required to make that happen.

stcredzero 16y ago

It would be much better as an App. There's a lot of thought that goes into buying a case for expensive kit like an iPhone. I doubt Visa is going to be able to interpose itself like this.

borisk 16y ago
The case is needed because the iPhone doesn't yet have an NFC chip(unlike http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-6131-nfc/technical-specifications http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-6131-nfc...). Once Apple adds a chip this will be just an app.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  Why couldn't this be implemented as an app over Bonjour and WiFi? Use NFC if it's there, but requiring the case is just a little too much to expect.
  - borisk 16y ago
    With NFC your credit card information is only stored in encrypted form. Implementing a regular app with payment functionality will make it a lot easier to steal this data.
  - eli 16y ago
    Not if you want it to be compatible with the many thousands of existing contactless payment terminals

DrSprout 16y ago

I'm in deep enough shit as it is if my Droid is lost or destroyed. Smartphones are great in that they replace a lot of things I used to have to carry. "Wallet" is not one I want to add to the list.

kwamenum86 16y ago

Great news for consumers. Interesting news for Square.

davidedicillo 16y ago
they should enable bump payments :) Funny thing is that it would bring us back to the original Paypal idea of beaming money

sriram_sun 16y ago

I'd like a "wallet" from which I can use whatever card I want to.

djb_hackernews 16y ago

Uh, if you have a card that is no swipe, just stick it inside the case and no swipe away. No need to clog up your microsd slot and have a stupid app on top of that to use it.

jodrellblank 16y ago
Which microsd slot on your iPhone are you clogging up, exactly?

AGorilla 16y ago

This will not get widely adopted until Visa gets their H out of their A and makes the case look decent and not be bulky. They can fit this stuff into a tiny keyring, why does this case add an extra 4 inches to the bottom of the phone? Attention everybody: STOP MAKING UGLY PHONE CASES

kellogs 16y ago

pretty unnecessary & exclusive in my opinion. unnecessary, because 1) generally you need to carry some baseline amount of cash and a credit card. the credit card is not really a burden in the wallet. 2) "which credit card" to take is hardly a problem, you don't generally spend above the limit of your credit card in a single day 3) the iphone can get stolen just as easily as a credit card, and in such cases it is more expensive to replace than simply locking up the card and getting a new one. exclusive because, the app is just designed for the iPhone, there are many users without iPhone, android, or blackberry. they should be given the same ease of use.

aidenn0 16y ago

Anyone else tickled pink by the line "...like someone from the future and/or Japan?"

lidmith 16y ago

I didn't read it (I don't have an iPhone, and I would carry a wallet even if I did), but when I read the title of this submission, I imagined a box that compressed your iPhone into the shape of a credit card. Then I looked at the name of the site it linked too..