3 ms·

Cellphones as Credit Cards? Americans Must Wait

9 points by robg 18y ago

cellis 18y ago
When i was 15, this was going to be my billion dollar idea. In fact, monopolizing the cellphone processing market was integral to my plan of world domination.
- snprbob86 18y ago
  I think everyone had this idea. It is kind of saddening that it is taking so long for this dream to be realized.
  - cellis 18y ago
    Very true. But there is too much money at stake and carriers are wary lest a rerun of Microsoft-IBM happen to them with this technology.
  - helveticaman 18y ago
    It's real in Japan.
    - nandemo 18y ago
      I live in Japan but I don't use it. It would save me about 5 seconds on each my infrequent non-internet transactions, and that's about it. The pre-paid debit card function (shown in the left pic in the article) is more useful, though. Because you can use it for small payments, you don't have to be carrying lots of coins all the time. And in some places there are exclusive cashiers for these debit-cards so you can check-out much faster.
    - patio11 18y ago
      Yep, but we're still fundamentally a cash-based society. Granted, the cell phone is easier to pay with than a credit card: most times when I swipe a CC at a restaurant with an average per-person price of less than $15 I have to wait 5 minutes while the cashier finds someone who knows how to do it. The e-wallet cell phones are mostly used for convenience stores, which are sort of like what an American convenience store would look like if Bezos was running them. You wouldn't even believe me if I told you. Let's start with "If you work all day getting packages delivered is sort of annoying because the local equivalent of FedEx might show up before you're home, so instead just ship them to your local convenience store which is open 24 hours, which will happily hold them in your name until it is convenient for you to pick it up. Oh, did you need to pay for it, too? No problem, the convenience store can process payments for any Internet company worth their salt, generally pre-shipping but at-delivery for some products. Oh, haven't paid your taxes yet? Maybe you need to stop by the convenience store! We can also handle water, power, Internet, cell phone, etc etc. And if financial services make you thirsty, perhaps our selection of 760 different brands of liquid refreshment has something you'll enjoy."
      - rms 18y ago
        I love the packaged foods in Asia... so many delicious options
      - jaaron 18y ago
        Yeah, isn't 7-11 in Asia amazing? Not only can you run your life through convenience stores, but they are ubiquitous. It's hard to walk two or three blocks without bumping into one.
      - nazgulnarsil 18y ago
        and that is a good thing. I don't want to have my every purchase collated.
kahseng 18y ago
It's still my idea! But I think I'll prefer credit cards as cell phones. (i.e. cards with e-ink and touch sensors and micro-antennae that can still function as phones) :)
iamelgringo 18y ago
I'm totally talking out of my ass, here, but I wonder if the issue of using cell phones as payment in the Japan, is partly due to the decreased usage of credit cards. I know that in Latin America, where I grew up, there are very few people who use credit cards. The infrastructure for electronic payments and debits just isn't there and fraud is rampant. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of countries with state controlled telecommunication companies or cellular near-monopolies can leapfrog the credit card adoption hurdle by offering epayments via cellphone. What do people in non-US countries think?
gojomo 18y ago
How long after phones replace credit cards will they replace driver's licenses? As both manufacturing and network costs fall, it's conceivable that anyone without an identity-document-compliant cellphone would be issued one, for free or no cost, by the same government entities that issue driver's licenses or other official IDs.
Zak 18y ago
The problem here seems to be that the carriers control the platform. Most cell phones can't run software without carrier approval, so the carriers want their cut even in cases where the application has nothing to do with their network. Android and the iPhone seem to be steps away from this.
extension 18y ago
I don't understand how the cellphone is involved in this. My working credit card right now is a piece of plastic with a number on it. Why couldn't I pull the RFID device out of the cellphone and put it on my keychain or in a block of cheese?

9 points by robg 18y ago

When i was 15, this was going to be my billion dollar idea. In fact, monopolizing the cellphone processing market was integral to my plan of world domination.

snprbob86 18y ago
I think everyone had this idea. It is kind of saddening that it is taking so long for this dream to be realized.
- cellis 18y ago
  Very true. But there is too much money at stake and carriers are wary lest a rerun of Microsoft-IBM happen to them with this technology.
- helveticaman 18y ago
  It's real in Japan.
  - nandemo 18y ago
    I live in Japan but I don't use it. It would save me about 5 seconds on each my infrequent non-internet transactions, and that's about it. The pre-paid debit card function (shown in the left pic in the article) is more useful, though. Because you can use it for small payments, you don't have to be carrying lots of coins all the time. And in some places there are exclusive cashiers for these debit-cards so you can check-out much faster.
  - patio11 18y ago
    Yep, but we're still fundamentally a cash-based society. Granted, the cell phone is easier to pay with than a credit card: most times when I swipe a CC at a restaurant with an average per-person price of less than $15 I have to wait 5 minutes while the cashier finds someone who knows how to do it. The e-wallet cell phones are mostly used for convenience stores, which are sort of like what an American convenience store would look like if Bezos was running them. You wouldn't even believe me if I told you. Let's start with "If you work all day getting packages delivered is sort of annoying because the local equivalent of FedEx might show up before you're home, so instead just ship them to your local convenience store which is open 24 hours, which will happily hold them in your name until it is convenient for you to pick it up. Oh, did you need to pay for it, too? No problem, the convenience store can process payments for any Internet company worth their salt, generally pre-shipping but at-delivery for some products. Oh, haven't paid your taxes yet? Maybe you need to stop by the convenience store! We can also handle water, power, Internet, cell phone, etc etc. And if financial services make you thirsty, perhaps our selection of 760 different brands of liquid refreshment has something you'll enjoy."
    - rms 18y ago
      I love the packaged foods in Asia... so many delicious options
    - jaaron 18y ago
      Yeah, isn't 7-11 in Asia amazing? Not only can you run your life through convenience stores, but they are ubiquitous. It's hard to walk two or three blocks without bumping into one.
    - nazgulnarsil 18y ago
      and that is a good thing. I don't want to have my every purchase collated.

kahseng 18y ago

It's still my idea! But I think I'll prefer credit cards as cell phones. (i.e. cards with e-ink and touch sensors and micro-antennae that can still function as phones) :)

iamelgringo 18y ago

I'm totally talking out of my ass, here, but I wonder if the issue of using cell phones as payment in the Japan, is partly due to the decreased usage of credit cards. I know that in Latin America, where I grew up, there are very few people who use credit cards. The infrastructure for electronic payments and debits just isn't there and fraud is rampant. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of countries with state controlled telecommunication companies or cellular near-monopolies can leapfrog the credit card adoption hurdle by offering epayments via cellphone. What do people in non-US countries think?

gojomo 18y ago

How long after phones replace credit cards will they replace driver's licenses? As both manufacturing and network costs fall, it's conceivable that anyone without an identity-document-compliant cellphone would be issued one, for free or no cost, by the same government entities that issue driver's licenses or other official IDs.

Zak 18y ago

The problem here seems to be that the carriers control the platform. Most cell phones can't run software without carrier approval, so the carriers want their cut even in cases where the application has nothing to do with their network. Android and the iPhone seem to be steps away from this.

extension 18y ago

I don't understand how the cellphone is involved in this. My working credit card right now is a piece of plastic with a number on it. Why couldn't I pull the RFID device out of the cellphone and put it on my keychain or in a block of cheese?