While NFC is a great idea for mobile payments, the sad fact is that unlike Japan, where NFC is widely adopted, not many phones in the US come with NFC technology enabled. Even the latest Blackberry devices that supposedly come shipped with NFC have that feature disabled when it comes onto the carriers. If mobile payments are your thing and you don’t want to sacrifice your current phone for an NFC enabled one, PayPal has a solution for you.
Through the use of credit card terminals that are commonly found in super markets, users will be able to use those terminals, enter a phone number and a PIN on the keypad in order to make their payment. This removes the need of swiping a debit or credit card. Alternatively the user can use their mobile phone’s camera to scan the product’s barcode and through PayPal, make payment for that product and walk out of the store while showing proof of purchase to the clerk via their phone.
Granted there are probably some security issues that need to be worked out and stores would need a system in place, but for those not a fan of NFC or credit/debit cards, perhaps it won’t be too long before PayPal gets their system into place and a new form of mobile payments will be ushered in.
Filed in . Read more about Google Wallet, Isis, Mobile Payments, NFC and Paypal.