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Do You Accept Cellphone Payments?
beuges writes "In one of South Korea's latest efforts to establish itself as a technology trendsetter, the country's three telecom giants, major credit card companies and several banks have been working for a year to enable Koreans to pay for everything from groceries to petrol by cellphone."
You may recall seeing something about it during the Superbowl a few years back.
Here's a tip for all you inventors looking to make things easy for the rest of us: CELL PHONES DO NOT HAVE A SIMPLE ENOUGH INTERFACE FOR MOST COMMON INTERACTIONS.
What happens when you lose your cell phone. It happens often enough but when that's all that's gone it's not too bad. If it's your phone, credit card, ID, etc. that'a a hugh problem.
-Tim Louden
"In the future thieves only will have to steal one handset," Lee said. "It will be their window to your world." - Sapa-AP
Maybe that's not what they said. But with the recent theft of my T-Mobile Sidekick fresh in my mind, I am hesitant to put so much faith in my easiliy pilferable devices.
(counter-point: credit cards can be stolen, yes, but my sidekick was not nearly as wallet/back pocket friendly as a credit card, thus not suck to my ass all day giving it a better chance of being stolen)
Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.
...cellphones weren't already complex enough? I don't carry a Swiss Army Knife or a Leatherman, when all I need is one blade. For the very same reason, I'm strongly against most cluttery "features" like this.
First give me a product that has a useable interface and spend some time making sure I can dial the thing one-handed. Add useful PHONE features, not useful kitchen utensils and assorted toys. Use that extra space on a huge battery I only have to charge once a week. In short, make my cellphone better, not just different.
-theGreater Luddite.
"Honey, the front door won't open"
"Is the phone working?"
"damn...forgot to charge the battery last night!"
Sometimes, the lowtech answer is best.