Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Chase and MasterCard Jump Into Mobile Payments (itworld.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the having-17-different-payment-platforms-is-awesome dept.

itwbennett writes: JP Morgan Chase said Monday that it plans to launch its own smartphone payment platform in mid-2016. 'Chase Pay will be based on CurrentC, a retailer-led mobile payment system that has largely been written off by Silicon Valley techies for its reliance on barcodes rather than the more sophisticated NFC (near-field communications) technology adopted by its competitors,' writes Martyn Williams. CurrentC, and therefore Chase Pay, is compatible with a much larger number of smartphones than the rival services from Apple, Google and Samsung. Meanwhile, MasterCard announced a program that aims to turn any type of gadget into a payment device, from car keys to fitness trackers.

3 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Don't bank on your cellphone. by rmdingler · · Score: 2, Insightful
    As if we needed any additional evidence that market share is more important to payment processors than security...

    Yes, the phone in your pocket is also a computer. No, it is not as secure as your desktop or laptop.

    Never trade security for convenience.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Don't bank on your cellphone. by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Severe paranoia and delusional thinking are signs of neural impairment. You should see a doctor.

      A modern smartphone tends to be much more secure than the average PC. Unless you side-load Android apps from shady suppliers, you're rather unlikely to be running any software in a position to capture transaction details. This is not at all true on a PC.

    2. Re:Don't bank on your cellphone. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You're using a general "less secure" instead of "less secure against". There's more risk for your location being tracked if you are compromised, but the walled garden is more secure against the device being compromised in the first place. If you're doing mobile banking, you're less worried about being tracked than you are of losing your money.