For the past while we have heard companies like Google touting their smartphone-based wallets that, using NFC, would replace traditional credit cards. Most of these systems share an important design flaw – they aren’t actually more convenient than a regular credit card. How do they work?
- Remove phone from pocket
- Swipe phone on payment terminal
Contrast this to the good old plastic card:
- Remove card from pocket
- Swipe card on payment terminal
Clearly those systems offer little, if any, benefit. Furthermore both the card and phone offer less-than-ideal security; anyone who steals them can rather easily rack up several purchases before you notice. Card Case, from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, tries to solve a few of those issues. It’s far from a perfect concept but it’s the most compelling alternative to the conventional credit card I’ve seen yet.
Like Google Wallet it also runs on your phone, but you don’t have to swipe it or even remove it from your pocket. The vendor’s terminal detects your phone when it’s close enough, and you simply tell the cashier your name. The name + Phone ID combination calls up your photo on the terminal so the clerk can make sure you’re you, and that’s it, you’re good to go.
That may seem prone to theft or abuse, but remember that you need your phone, your name (whoever steals your phone may not know it) and you need your face. Short of a scenario out of the first Mission Impossible movie, that will foil most thieves. In addition to those measures you have to manually activate the stores you want to enable on your Card Case account – so if all you have activated is Tim Horton’s and your favourite sushi restaurant, a thief that knows your name and has your phone as well as your face (?!) won’t be able to buy airline tickets to Zimbabwe on your dime.
I for one look forward to trying this system if it ever sees widespread adoption. It’s isn’t really any more Big Brotherly than my regular credit card, which makes it a big jump in convenience without being another step towards an RFID chip in my wrist.