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Monday, September 19, 2011
Don't Throw Away Your Wallet
Google has officially released its digital payment service as an app for smart phones. With this new technology a person can pay for just about anything by just waving their phone next to a near-field communication credit card terminal. It sounds intriguing, but looking at it closely reveals that this doesn't fill any need, doesn't provide any further safety, and is really only usable by a small fraction of the population. What are people gaining by being able to wave their phone around instead of using a credit card? The time it would take to start the app is not likely to be any faster than pulling a credit card out of your wallet. And heaven help you if your phone's battery dies right before you need to make a crucial payment. No, this technology doesn't present anything good to society other than a new toy for the rich and the lucky.
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I disagree. It may seem useless if the only use of it is to replace the credit card, but Google Wallet offers so much more than that.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Google Wallet can also allow for coupons to be stored and used straight from the phone. As of now, most of these coupons and offers are not in all areas, but they will be soon.
I think the benefits of this will become more apparent as time passes.
I actually was just reading about this a couple days ago. At first, I was as skeptical as you are. After continued reading and pondering, however, I realized that this could go mainstream and change the way we do a lot of daily tasks.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, the app is running in the background, so it won't be a matter of starting up the app as much as just pulling the phone out of your pocket. (Though there is the requirement that you type in your pin. I'm not sure how that all works). So, there is a potential speed gain there, but I'll admit, that isn't compelling by itself.
The reason why this is cool is because it won't be just "a new toy for the rich and the lucky." More and more phones will be build with the NFC hardware, and Android phones are common enough that you would be hard pressed to argue they are only owned by the rich.
Right now, yes, it won't be very usable. But as more phones and vendors support it (think 10 years from now), it could really replace your wallet. Your Smith's rewards card could be on there, you library card, you driver's licence... (alright, that might be a stretch). The other cool thing about the technology is that it can be used for things like unlocking your car or home.
It makes me foresee a world where you can use this device (it will be too much to just be called a phone or a smartphone) for tons of things. So yes, Don't Throw Away Your Wallet (Yet).
NFCs are a pretty cool technology, and can be activated by proximity, so even if it requires an app right now, there is the possibility that that won't be necessary eventually. In my dream world (and I doubt it will come to this because of Identity theft), I would only need to carry my cell phone and could use that to replace my wallet and keys (like Richard pointed out).
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