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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."
My wallet is already mobile.
Anonymous Coward
I'm 47 and have never owned a non-mobile wallet. Not sure what the point would be.
There's the benefit of making your phone the target of hackers everywhere. The reason mobile malware hasn't been nearly as successful as PC malware is there hasn't been enough profit motive. Just wait until mobile phones all have wallets that could give thieves access to billions of dollars of credit. You want incentive to create malware? You'll get scads of professionally written free malware.
There's also the convenience benefit of using a cell phone to pay. Instead of all that hard work of getting your card out of your wallet and swiping it, you simply get out your phone, unlock the keypad with your simple code, find the simple wallet app and tap on it, simply wait for it to load and to prompt you for your PIN, then you simply tap your phone on the NFC reader! Simple, no?
Finally, there's the privacy benefit. If you use Google Wallet, now Google can complete their trifecta of intelligence gathering. They'll know what you search for, they'll know where you surfed to research the thing, and now they'll know when you walked into a brick and mortar store and bought it at retail even after all that on-line research. Google will know everything about commerce everywhere. And if you tell them you're opting out, they won't maintain that association with you, just your habits. How much more privacy could you want?
Was that enough benefit for you?
John
My mobile phone can't replace my wallet because then where would I carry this Trojan I've had since I was a sophomore in 1976?
It's been with me since the bi-centennial, handed down to me by my cousin Frank who got it from his dad's drawer. And if I should ever get lucky, I want to be prepared.
Hey, it could happen...
You are welcome on my lawn.
Call them on what, my leather wallet?