Wallets: Passe?
My phone carries three email accounts, my cloud documents, my task lists for work and for home, my contact database, my social networks, my camera, enough mindless games to keep me occupied forever, a library’s worth of books, a record store’s worth of music, and, of course, the whole wide Internet.
I can use it as my GPS, as my notebook, as my boarding pass. I can buy just about anything in the world on it through any e-commerce site.
Given all that it, then, is it such a stretch to envision it being my debit card to buy goods in person, too?
I don’t think so – and it looks like the biggest players in the game agree. It won’t happen right away, but don’t be surprised if your next phone is something you can swipe to pay.
Do you like the idea of having even less to carry around, or does this freak you out?
Likely because its home offices are here, payments via cell phone through Dwolla are popular with some of the hipster retail establishments in Des Moines. At only 25 cents/transaction, it’s an especially friendly payment method for smaller shops since it’s more affordable for than the traditional credit card companies’ fees.
I think the main hurdle to this completely taking over plastic is overcoming the cost of owning a cell phone with a data plan. While arguably most people in the U.S. have access and/or the means to own a cell phone (heck, you can pick up a prepaid phone at WalMart), I imagine it’ll be quite a while before that type of affordability expands to the smart phone market. It’d be interesting to see projected growth statistics on the number of smart phone users over the next 10 years.