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Slashdot Asks: Which Mobile Payment Service Is Best For You? (qz.com)
Everyone has a smartphone these days, therefore everyone should have access to at least one mobile payment service -- Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay. Personally, I've only used Apple Pay a handful of times because the vast majority of stores I visit don't support it. For me, the biggest problem with mobile payment services like Apple Pay and Google Pay isn't the potential security concerns or inconveniences (having to pull my phone out of my pocket or requiring the merchant to pull out an NFC reader while in a drive-thru) -- it's the lack of compatibility. I want to be able to leave my wallet at home and do all of my shopping with my phone, which is not possible due to the lack of support at most retailers. With that said, the support is improving. Today, Apple announced that Apple Pay is now available at 74 of the top 100 U.S. retailers. Quartz reports: Today (Jan. 22), Apple announced that it has also signed up Taco Bell and Target -- two years ago, Target said it had no plans to adopt Apple Pay -- meaning that 74 of the top 100 U.S. retailers by revenue now accept Apple's digital payment. The company added pharmacy chain CVS, along with 7-Eleven, late last year. They joined other major US retailers that include Best Buy, Starbucks, McDonald's, Walgreens, Costco, and Kohl's. (Some of the biggest holdouts: Walmart and Home Depot.) Do you use mobile payment services? Which service(s) do you use and why?
Those fleas have sucked enough of my personal data. They already know (or can guess) where I shop. They don't need specifics.
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
I think the question seems a little strange as if you have an iPhone you'd be using Apple Pay, otherwise some Google variant.
But personally I really like Apple Pay, because it's easy to set up, use, and I feel is really secure.
Great news too is that soon (if not now?) ApplePay support is coming to Target and some other places - Target was one of the last big holdouts of places I go.
Note that Target will also finally be supporting Google Pay and Android Pay as well, so we ALL win here!!
Another thing I will say in favoritisms of Apple Pay is that Apple Pay over the web works really well and I use it if at all possible (it uses your device to authorize payment).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Everyone has a smartphone these days
Speak for yourself. I use a flip phone.
Which Mobile Payment Service Is Best For You?
It's called cash. It goes with me, so it's perfectly mobile. But it doesn't allow big corp to gather data on my every purchase and use it to their own advantages.
No tracking and profiling by data greedy corporations, no transaction fees, no "oops our card reader just malfunctions", and most importantly: I can give and take cash to/from whoever I want, without some corporation deciding if that person or me are deemed worthy their services.
I'm in .au too and I don't use any phone-based payment. WON'T use them.
Only a complete fucking moron thinks it's OK to let a device as easily hacked, infected with malware from the appstore, and/or stolen as a mobile phone to have access to their bank accounts.
Only a fucking cretin thinks it's a good idea to let Google or Apple or Samsung, etc have access to your bank account or credit card.
BTW, they're not free. You're paying with your privacy and anonymity. You're paying with reduced security and increased hassle. You're paying with the risk of fraud and theft being forced onto you rather than the financial institution. You're paying with the difficulty of spotting fraudulent transactions (with business names on the line-items that have little or no relationship to the name of any shop you buy stuff in) buried amongst hundreds of other small transaction.
I also refuse to use the paypass/paywave/RFID anti-feature of any debit or credit card as a matter of principle because not only did my bank refuse to give me a card without it (and refuse to change the unauthorised transaction limit from $100 to $0 or anything else), not one bank in the fucking country offers it - apparently both Mastercard and Visa require it.
Fuck the so-called "convenience" - entering a PIN when buying something isn't even slightly difficult and is essential for security if my card ever gets lost or stolen (and fuck the bank's promise to pay back any theft - I might end up getting most or even all of my money back but they won't compensate for the months of arguing with the bank before that happens).
And there's no fucking way I'm installing any app from any corporation on my phone - certainly not an app from my bank who has no need or right to spy on me 24/7. I won't even give them my phone number (I don't give out my phone number to ANY company unless it's absolutely unavoidable and *I* both see a need for it AND decide it's worth the risk. I get very little SMS spam. These facts are not unrelated.)
"chip and PIN" cards are OK. not perfect, there's room for improvement, but they at least have the essential feature of **requiring** the user to authorise every transaction before it takes place.