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I think we're all missing a key point here. From reading the FAQ it appears that the application needs access to their servers. That blows my mind. Why should m

by cik 13y ago

I think we're all missing a key point here. From reading the FAQ it appears that the application needs access to their servers. That blows my mind. Why should my mobile phone application, responsible for programming a local card via Bluetooth ever need access to the internet? Simply put - it shouldn't. To me, this sounds like a big data play, except in this case the company is getting the user to cover the cost of acquisition. I imagine the actual cost of production on a card like this being well < $20 shipped (disclosure: I've been involved in shipping and starting up several physical products). So now, I have something that collects and unifies data across multiple purchase vectors, sending that back to a single source. In other words, I've paid for the privilege of helping another company get the same sort of insight that mint.com was building, except that I'm also including loyalty data. Colour me out.

isomorphic 13y ago
Right. Also, unless I missed something, I didn't see anything in their FAQ that states categorically that they're not storing your card information on their servers. No, Coin, I'm not going to store all of my credit and debit cards in a single spot on the Internet. Your app has to work without Internet, or it's a security risk.
dakrisht 13y ago
Absolutely. Not only this but they're entire FAQ is vague and doesn't offer any concrete answers whatsoever. It's a half ass job. Surprised (sort of) that this is a YC company with all the vetting, mentoring, perfecting and whatever else happens there. They have a lot of problems and a lot of holes. Payments are HARD but this doesn't make them any easier. Quite the contrary.
lk145 13y ago
I was trying to figure that out too, whether they're making money off the hardware or my data. I found their privacy policy but I am still unsure what they're going for https://onlycoin.com/privacy/ https://onlycoin.com/privacy/ I really think hard about whether these services are really worth forking over that much of my personal data, and as cool as this product is I don't think it's worth it. If vast amounts of my personal data weren't at stake I'd pre-order for sure :(

by cik 13y ago

isomorphic 13y ago

Right. Also, unless I missed something, I didn't see anything in their FAQ that states categorically that they're not storing your card information on their servers. No, Coin, I'm not going to store all of my credit and debit cards in a single spot on the Internet. Your app has to work without Internet, or it's a security risk.

dakrisht 13y ago

Absolutely. Not only this but they're entire FAQ is vague and doesn't offer any concrete answers whatsoever. It's a half ass job. Surprised (sort of) that this is a YC company with all the vetting, mentoring, perfecting and whatever else happens there. They have a lot of problems and a lot of holes. Payments are HARD but this doesn't make them any easier. Quite the contrary.

lk145 13y ago

I was trying to figure that out too, whether they're making money off the hardware or my data. I found their privacy policy but I am still unsure what they're going for https://onlycoin.com/privacy/ https://onlycoin.com/privacy/ I really think hard about whether these services are really worth forking over that much of my personal data, and as cool as this product is I don't think it's worth it. If vast amounts of my personal data weren't at stake I'd pre-order for sure :(