Cell Phones Closer To Replacing Credit Cards

Soo.. if you lose your phone you lose your card too?

So if your phone dies... you can't make calls AND you can't buy things.

Dumb idea until they SERIOUSLY improve phone battery life.

Interesting idea, but they need to put some kind of encryption software on the phone like a keypad where you type in your code before the transaction goes through.

This just opens up another world of electronic fraud. I'll keep the plastic kkthx.

too expensive.

Unless Smartphone is as small as a plastic credit card, then I would consider. Otherwise, I'd stay with the plastic.

Bad idea. It's pretty easy to dispute a charge on your credit card. Try disputing anything on your cell phone bill. Not only that, the last thing I want is a technology that enables charges added to my phone bill just by being in the proximity of my phone. Also, who in their right mind would want 2 forms of ID merged into a gadget containing GPS? This is a sneaky idea that will sucker a lot of suckers. You think it's hard severing an agreement with a cellphone company now, wait til they got you 3 different ways. Hey i know, lets add health insurance and auto insurance to our cell phone too! doh!

@loomis86. Thank you, nail meet hammer.

I was just thinking, doesn't MasterCard, VISA, and American Express all already offer this feature and in a much more convenient method since it's not actually "locked" to your phone.

Appearently loomis and DasUser didn't read the article very well, same with quite a few other posters here. The cellphone carries aren't taking care of the billing or processing of accounts so nothing will be charged to your cell bill, only to the account that is linked to the chip inside the phone. ATT, Verizon and T-mobile are just partnering up to form a company that will enable the technology. People really need to read before posting comments.

The drawback to this kind of thing is that cellphone theft is high enough now, just wait it'll get worse. However I'm not too worried since I've never lost a cell phone or my wallet, I have broken a few phones though.

Does this mean I can stop writing checks!?!?!?

But seriously how how is it to take out a thin piece of plastic and slide it through the machine. Do we really need this on our phones cause we are to last to reach into our back pocket so we reach into our front pocket instead?

be interesting but even in chicago i rarely see people using many different forms of payment. jewel stores tried to use the fingerprint checkout devices at some of their stores and i never ever saw anyone try and then it went away. the same goes for those fancy cards that you can just tap on the reader device, never seen one used. besides all that, i'd wager a good chunk of people don't have real credit cards anymore as plenty are sticking to the various prepaid(load/unload) cards that are offered by just about everyone.

bottom line is credit cards are already simple and easy to use, the hard part (if any) is the multitude of weird of card readers that each store has. lets not make it any harder with using our smart phones, cause to be frank i dont think they are smart for that.

They should just make smartphones more secure. When you look at the iPhone, to answer a call you need to swipe the button to the right....

Why not incorporate a fingerprint scanner - same as those already found on T.P.M. laptops. To answer a call, or wake the device up swipe your finger over the reader. The same could be incorporated for when purchasing goods via smartphone - swipe your finger over the smartphone reader to authorise.....

.... or is that too simple?

Not very feasible for those that enjoy the water. How many people go to the beach or water park and only carry a credit card. Phones are far too fragile to be relied on in such a way.

Phone hackers also have sophisticated equipment to read information off the phone for duplication. Would this be able to prevent further fraud?

Umm, hasn't there been problems with the microchipped Passports being read by people simply walking past and digitally stealing the data? I give it six months before someone has a machine that can activate these phones and skim from the accounts just by walking past...

Japan has had this sorted out for half a decade. Only thing the US carriers need to do is adopt the same, developed technology. Save cost and have interoperability between the two largest economies.

Too bad carriers won't ever do that and will instead opt to develop a technology from scratch.

Cellphones are just not reliable enough. I would feel safe to have a credit card in my pocket without my cellphone, but converse is not true.

Isn't one of the main benefits of the credit card the fact it can be used internationally?

I'll keep the plastic.

10 years later... Tokyo has had payments via cellphones forever now

If you have a smart phone (i.e. a computer) you should not need credit cards, drivers license, social security card, insurance identification cards, any kind of ID card, car keys, house keys, cash, passport.... etc, etc...

wait a minute...this isn't out yet?! WHAT!??!? I destroyed all my credit cards!! noooooooooooooo!!!