Three of the four wireless providers in the USA have teamed up to invest their infrastructure into technology that would allow you to swipe your phone to pay for products. This is known as Near Field Communications, a field that Apple has previously shown interest in. The starter program will roll out in Atlanta, and three other US cities.
Bloomberg is reporting that new phones would have to be produced that would have a chip capable of such tasks, and that the financial side of things will be handled by Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc. Discover card is behind this? That’s going to take some selling.
This sort of technology is already present in a number of other nations, most famously Japan, where you can just swipe your phone to pay for just about anything.
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I wonder what security features would keep someone else from stealing and swiping your phone… Sounds cool, though.
I would think you enter a pincode or something on your phone…same as a debit or CC. It is an interesting idea but I would worry about my battery running out when I am out to dinner. I hope restaurants would keep a large selection of chargers handy. haha