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Will Mobile Wallets Replace Their Traditional Counterparts?
Cara_Latham writes "Mobile wallets are all the rage. But legitimate questions remain as to whether they will ever truly replace their leathery counterparts. Mobile wallets, which use NFC-based technology to allow customers to make contactless payments at the point of sale, already have begun to make their presence felt. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google launched a digital wallet this past fall. The search giant has agreements with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover to make the Google Wallet available to the card companies' account holders, and there even are some NFC-enabled terminals in use across the U.S. that can accept it, including at many mass transit stations. And mobile wallet ventures are cropping up around the globe, as well. Telecom companies including Vodafone and Telefonica announced this year wallet initiatives in Africa and Latin America. But mobile wallets still face many hurdles before they can gain widespread adoption, experts say, including the rather difficult task of getting consumers to change long-held habits."
I'm 47 and have never owned a non-mobile wallet. Not sure what the point would be.
The problem is as soon as you (and those remaining) "give up cash altogether" to use your wonderful non-tracking plastic cards, the government WILL just drop cash.
And then how are you supposed to buy or recharge that "anonymous" plastic gift card? A personal check? A real credit card? An ATM transfer.
Make no mistake- time and time again, the governments have and will "change the terms" of things that were supposed to be limited and/or private. Social Security numbers are a perfect example. Red light cameras turning into speeding and other use cameras are another.
"change processing fee" is just fucked up shit. I have a shop here in Argentina and I don't get charged anything to deposit cash.
I work with cash only, because Momma Visa charges 3-6% for debit card and up to 15% for credit card. I sell comic books, these have a fixed 30% markup, so visa gets no money from me. I considered them, but i figured if i go that way it'll just mean that my current cash payers will turn to credit card, and in the end it will be a net loss.
a few months ago some woman walks with her kid and he picks up about $10 in comic books. so i tell her, sorry, we only accept cash. and she starts lecturing me "oh, in civilized countries EVERY business accepts credit cards". so i tell her "look, lady, in civilized countries, Visa doesn't charge you a 40% annual interest". she was too stupid to understand anyway.