

MobilePay May Be The Death Of The Wallet. Yes, For Real This Time. - JereCoh
http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/28/mobilepayusa/

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tlb
It's unlikely to be faster. I can pay with cash or credit card in much less
time than my iPhone takes to get a GPS fix & 3G connection indoors.

Also, credit cards are very reliable. I've had mine fail (mag stripe wear,
etc.) maybe 3 times in 20 years, but even then it's still usable the old-
fashioned way. My iPhone fails (low battery, weak signal) at least weekly.
Being occasionally unable to pay is a Really Bad Experience that users won't
forgive.

Slower and less reliable. I predict it won't take off.

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mrtron
Also problems with entering in the amount you are paying them instead of that
being automated. What if you mispress and over/under pay by a cent, a dollar,
10$...?

The trick for any service like this is mass adoption. The service needs to be
available in enough places so you don't need to carry your credit card. That
seems unlikely.

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makmanalp
>>(but don’t worry, it isn’t stored on your device, it’s securely stored in
the cloud)

Wow, I thought the decentralized way was better, since it makes it very hard
for malicious people to get to a significant amount of info, and keeps the
data in your control. It's interesting how the notion of security is being
flipped over completely.

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chopsueyar
You stole the quote I was gonna use!

Besides storing all your important information remotely, how about the fact it
won't work in areas of no connectivity or when your battery dies.

My credit card and dollar bills do not suffer from the aforementioned
dependencies.

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tamersalama
I waited in line for 30 minutes today - and then discovered that I forgot my
wallet. I had my phone though.

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chopsueyar
My phone died yesterday and I forget my charger cord, but I still had my
wallet.

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jakewalker
I love the implementation . . . I feel like this is a much more likely winner
than the solutions that require you to house your phone in some sort of RFID-
enabled case.

Not sure how they are getting away with charging merchants only 1% + 30 cents,
but it's a great deal for merchants, for sure.

~~~
kgermino
I assumed the 1% + .30 was on top of the merchant fees charged by the credit
cards, which would make it not as nice for the merchants.

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Poiesis
Why not a card, then, that can talk to a phone app? Is bluetooth too power
hungry to fit on a device approaching a credit card in thickness?

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chopsueyar
What do the merchants install?

Surely they don't trust us to simply show them the confirmation page on our
iPhones?

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gojomo
_I absolutely hate carrying around both my phone and my wallet in my pocket.
What if I could just carry around my phone and my driver’s license?_

Why stop at eliminating the wallet? I expect someday -- perhaps quite soon --
some state will allow a mobile with the right app(s) to serve as a Driver's
License.

And why not? It could contain digitally-signed info which includes the photo
and everything else appearing on traditional cards. For better or worse,
police could even check it at a distance.

