Posted on Tuesday, 30th November 2010 by Timothy Bell
Credit cards will soon be replaced by smartphones, or at least that’s the belief expressed by Google CEO Eric Schmidt. On Monday, he explained why he believed credit cards as we know them may eventually become secondary to smartphones and actually showed off a device with the capability to replace the plastic.
The Unannounced Device
Schmidt attended the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco where during an interview, he showed off what he called the “unannounced device I carry around with me.” The device was able to use Near Field Communication, which means people using it can make payments and accomplish other tasks by waving it over an electronic reader.
While the logo on the smart phone was taped over, it is widely believed that the phone is the Nexus S, which is built by Samsung.
Is This New Technology Safe?
Schmidt said at the summit that he not only believes the new smartphone technology is safe, but that credit card companies believe it is more secure than traditional plastic. It may be for this reason that other phone makers are considering contactless payment technology as well.
For instance, Apple, the maker of the popular iPhone, is thought to be working on new mobile devices. Also, a few other big-name telecommunications and credit card companies are testing out their own versions of mobile-payment technologies, including AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.
Banks Consider Smartphone Credit Cards Too
There’s no doubt that we’re in the midst of a major technological shift when it comes to the merging of smartphones and credit cards and much of the finance industry seems to be on board.
In August, we reported that U.K.-founded Barclays Bank was teaming up with U.S.-based wireless service providers to offer unique credit card technology, including allowing consumers to make credit card payments from their smartphones.
Already working with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile to install an RFID tag inside Blackberry and iPhone, customers can link their phones to their bank accounts by waving their phones if front of a reader.
Trials for these phones already started in Atlanta and three other U.S. cities, which means it’s probably only a matter of time before the entire country is involved. With technology evolving as fast as it is, we may look at plastic credit cards like that old eight track player that no one wants to admit they had sooner than we think.
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Tags: Ceo, Credit Cards, Google Ceo
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