Sunday, March 27, 2011

Forget Your Wallet, Use Your Phone!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about how Starbucks had added an app for iPhones and BlackBerry's to be able to pay by phone.  Well, now Google is coming out with a Near Field Communication (NFC) Android phone that will enable you to pay anywhere with any card method of payment.  The new phone will let you pay for items without having to make any contact due to the short-range wireless capabilities in the hardware.
Not only can the new phones give out the sales information, but they can also download information that would help marketers advertise and collect data to know if you bought the item after receiving an advertisement, which would help advertisers on Google be able to know that they are getting their moneys worth of advertising on Google.  The phone also makes it so that you can instantly receive location-specific information.

Another new item that has come up to use your phone with is to have your boarding pass be on your phone, instead of having to carry around and keep up with your paper one.  This is essentially like the way Starbucks uses to have you be able to pay by phone.  On your phone, you would be using a 2-D barcode that the TSA would then authenticate by scanning.  The 2-D barcode contains information such as the passengers name and flight number.  This would help convenience many travelers, so that they no longer have to worry about the paper tickets.  Imagine never having to hold a ticket again!

Although they say that using the pay by phone with Google would be perfectly safe to use, I tend to worry more about hackers and would rather not replace my credit cards with my phone.  However, whenever I travel, I constantly worry about losing my boarding pass, so this is definitely a very convenient option.
In my opinion, if you are going to use your phone to replace your credit cards in the future, you should always use a password to help protect your phone.  Whenever your personal information goes electronic, there is always the worry of hacking and identity theft.  Also, you always have to worry about the potential of losing your phone, so that is the main reason for the password!


Sources:
http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_58/google-nfc-payments-1034953-1.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/210861/what_googles_nfc_android_phones_will_mean_for_you.html
http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/paperless_boarding_pass_expansion.shtm
Posted by Christine at 3:02 PM

2 comments:

  1. ChrisMarch 27, 2011 at 4:38 PM

    Christine,

    Your reservations about putting your credit card information on your phone highlights the importance of trust. I recently blogged about mobile payments and the need for a trusted intermediary to enter this space. Traditionally, society has relied on banks as the trusted intermediary. This is essentially the problem with the current mobile payment industry; there is no trusted intermediary. It will be interesting to see which company or companies finally fill this void.

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  2. FreelanceMarch 27, 2011 at 7:21 PM

    I believe these inventions are only bringing around new forms of payment. Consumers must be taught how to use them and be familiar with them in order to trust them.

    At the beginning online shopping provoked the same feeling of mistrust. Leaving your credit card number online was unthinkable. Still, online purchases have been increasing over the years and consumers are starting to see the commodity of buying online. However, it is true that the lack of problems regarding these purchases have lead consumers to forget the possible risks.

    Ana.

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