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Sunday, December 5, 2010

Who needs a wallet when you already have a cell phone?

Wireless carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are looking to allow customers to simply "tap" their phone to make purchases. Similar in idea to the Charlie Card and Mastercard's paypass system, Isis technology is being integrated into Android, iPhone, Nokia, and Blackberry phones and relies on near field communication technology. The charges incurred will be sent to your phone bill rather than your credit card bill.

Interesting idea, however many concerns remain regarding consumers' willingness to switch, retail location infrastructure (incorporating an Isis register), how much credit will be extended through smartphone devices, identity theft, and the list goes on.

While widespread adoption is expected to take decades, it will be interesting to see what applications will be made available in that time to provide similar services.

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