Using Mobile Phones as Credit Cards Inches Forward

In Asia, it’s common to see customers make purchases using their mobile phones using what’s known as near-field communications, CNET News reports. “Just wave the handset in front of a reader and voila, the transaction is done.”

In the U.S., we’ve had this technology embedded in cards, but not cell phones. The goal is to eventually eliminate the need to carry credit cards, transit cards, and building access badges and let your cell phone substitute for all of them.

The report said that while the cell phone has turned into a mobile entertainment device over the last few years, “it hasn’t become the payment and access device in the U.S. that was envisioned when contactless payment strategies were born back in 2005 and earlier.”

The article goes on to detail one such new technology from Inside Contactless, but it still seems a ways off from mass adoption, unfortunately.

AllFacebook Marketing Conference returns to San Francisco on June 28-29! Join us and get a how-to guide for marketing to Facebook’s 800 million users. A full agenda will be announced soon. Keep an eye on our event site for more information. Special early pricing is available for only $249 until this Wednesday, February 15, so register today.