Very soon traditional wallets and credit cards will be unnecessary to pay for purchases in stores. In fact, experiments in Near Field Communication (NFC) are multiplying in Europe and more precisely in Nice which has been experimenting with a new system for the last year. 
The trial attempts to turn an iPhone or a smart phone into a virtual wallet. More precisely, for any purchase in a store, the retailer will key in the sum to be paid on the payment terminal. The customer will only have to approach his mobile to pay and the receipt comes out. A secret code will be asked for for amounts over 20 Euros (Visa) or 25 Euros (Master Card). The customer will need to key the number in like the pin number on his phone.
Thanks to this new technology, we don’t need to insert a plastic card into the terminal any more. This is the principle of “contactless payment”(also known as “touch and go” or “wave and pay”). But the development of this new technology will take some time. Retailers will have to acquire new equipment. The phone or SIM cards of consumers will have to be equipped with a micro-antenna, which triggers the payment when it is sufficiently close to the terminal. Finally, an application must be installed on the chip of the SIM card for example.
However in a few years, contactless payment will transform our consumer habits.
3 réponses à “Mobiles phones or a new way of payment”
It’s an interesting article because with the evolution of different technologies we will start to see new ways of doing payments without using money or even credit cards (like buying goods by sending SMS), but I think the major concerns on this way of payments will be discussed around the security they can provide.
That is true, people would probably be very resistent to adopt but payments with credit cards are not secure even after years… lets no even talk about using cash in latinamerican countries for exemple… haha, this is far way better, we (engineers) just need to make it work as safely as possible.
This is a good development of the smart phone market. And I’m looking forward to using it as well.
However, will it be risky if the phone gets lost? or are there other issues concerning to this trend?