

Protean Echo: Fuse all your cards into one for $80 - kposehn
http://www.getprotean.com/

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wdewind
<http://www.getprotean.com/images/infographic3.jpg>

This is blatantly misleading. Protean users carry 1 card AND AN IPHONE. The
card only stores 3 at a time. :/

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Cbartenstein
Echo may be used with or without a phone. When you are without your phone, you
can use any one of the three cards already loaded on Echo. When you have your
phone (iPhone or Android) with you, you can set Echo to mimic any mag-stripe
card in your wallet with a couple taps of your phone.

~~~
wdewind
That graphic implies that the Echo replaces 6, 10 or an infinite number of
cards, but does not make clear that it is only three at a time and that the
rest are loaded onto the phone. When you say "Echo users carry 1 card" in
comparison to the first two examples, you are implying a parity for which I
can compare the three: I am likely the average American with 6 cards or even
possibly in the 13% that have 10+ credit cards. For both of those groups the
card would need to be used in conjunction with a phone in order to get the
same benefits as 6 or 10+ cards, but that is not illustrated in anyway. This
is misleading.

~~~
cbartenstein2
Wdewind, I'm sorry you found the website misleading. Our research indicates
that a large majority of smartphone users carry their phone with them when
they are shopping (and virtually everywhere else they go outside the home).
For these users, Echo can replace all the rest of their payment cards.

We hoped that between the FAQ section and the How section, the fact that Echo
can only hold three cards at a time was made clearly enough. Perhaps it was
not.

Thanks for the feedback. We'll consider ways of clarifying this point on our
website.

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mentat
The anti-fraud aspects of a card are usually checked as well by cashiers at
least. I'm not sure this would be accepted.

~~~
Cbartenstein
We are confident most merchants will accept Echo at the POS. Echo will be
laser engraved with the cardholder’s name, will display a CVV code in E-Ink,
and will be signed just like any other card. Today, merchants are increasingly
used to seeing unusual looking cards, such as the Chase Sapphire
(<https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/chase-sapphire.as...>) and Amex's
titanium Centurion card.

~~~
mentat
Interesting. It looks like a useful product for sure...

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Zenst
What is that phrase about putting all your egg's into one basket again!

If I wanted to combine all my credit cards into one easy nickable device I'd
do it with a NFC mobile phone.

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ktsmith
At least my NFC mobile phone has remote wipe.

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Zenst
Exactly and easier to report stolen as well.

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Cbartenstein
Hi guys,

As Co-founder and COO at Protean, I wanted to thank each of you for sharing
your thoughts on Echo. I tried to clarify some things in my responses to
several of your comments. Feel free to contact me any time at
cbartenstein@getprotean.com with additional questions, comments or concerns
regarding Echo.

Thanks again for your interest in Echo!

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Pirate-of-SV
Cool, but the solution to this problem is not another card.

~~~
Cbartenstein
We're very excited about NFC and mobile payment. We feel, however, that mobile
payment is not yet ready for prime time. A small fraction of current smart
phones are NFC enabled, and an even smaller fraction of merchants and
retailers have upgraded to terminals capable of accepting NFC payment. Echo is
compatible with existing swipe terminals and therefor enables Americans to
begin taking advantage mobile payment/wallet technologies today!

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josh33
This looks like a good solution if you have limited wallet space like in the
twelve-south book book case for iPhone.

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fuzzythinker
Nice, icache.com 's solution is bulkier and pricier.

