Several big mobile players are currently working on ways for us to make payments with our phones. But, will they really replace our wallets or just be a bit of a fad for techy types?
Last week it emerged that online giant Google may soon be launching a system that allows people to pay for things using their mobile phones.
The company’s ambitious plans were revealed at a press conference last week, when according to The Guardian, big brands Google, Citibank and Mastercard revealed a strategy to turn the Android mobile handset into a Google Wallet, which means people can simply pay for things with their phones. So, instead of carrying your debit or credit cards around, you can simply “swipe” your phone in participating stores to make a purchase.
This summer Google hopes to introduce the system to a few major cities in the US, with plans to roll it out nationwide before the end of the year.
Obviously Google’s efforts generally get a lot of mainstream press attention, but other companies are experimenting too, in the UK both O2 and Orange are hoping to introduce a similar system as soon as possible.
But will this new system work and can it be trusted to handle our money?
Well, our phones already fulfil countless needs other than simply allowing us to call our friends and contacts, so using the device to make payments could well be the next step toward making our lives even easier.
As the plans roll out across different countries its bound to be a little clunky at first, as people figure out where they can use their mobiles to pay and get used to simply swiping their phone as apposed to using a card and entering a pin. Obviously there have already been a few concerns about how the system will work and unsurprisingly one of the main issues is that of security, with reports already coming in that the Google Wallet system does have security weaknesses at present.
However, with many different brands and providers now fighting to offer us the best, easiest and most secure options, it won’t be long before all of the issues are ironed out and carrying your phone is arguably even safer than carrying your bank card.
If you’re interested in the way our super connectedness can be harnessed and used to develop things like mobile payments, I’d highly recommend a TED talk called Jan Chipchase on our mobile phones, who at the time was working as part of the human behavioural research team for Nokia.
Becca Caddy is a BitchBuzz Tech columnist and freelance writer. She is also the UK editor of US-based tech blog Popgadget.net. You can follow her @beccacaddy or read her blog beccacaddy.com.