It is not strange to find people who carry five or six credit, debit and gift cards in their wallets. When they want to make payments they pick up the right cards and swipe them on the card readers at the point of sale terminals. However, digital payment has improved leaps and bounds during the past few years. One of the best examples is the Coin card, a plastic card that can be used in place of eight different cards. Though news about the coin card was heard last year it is only possible for you to pre order it as the card will be available in later this year.
The coin card was sold at $50 for those who pre ordered it. Once it comes to market it will cost $100. However, even before the Coin card has hit the market a competitor has come out and the option is there for people to pre order that too. Available at $155 as the pre order price Plastic is going to be released during summer 2015. It could hold 20 different cards against the 8 cards the Coin card can hold. Besides, it uses NFC technology which means it has a chip in place of the usual magnetic strip.
One consolation for the Coin card is that Plastic the super card will arrive only during the summer of 2015. Both Coin card and Plastic have a number of security features incorporated in them. When it comes to Plastic, it always needs to be synchronized to a smart phone. It also has a PIN lock. The smart phone will give you an alert in case it is separated from the card. If the card is not put together with the phone in a short while, it will erase all the data stored. In case the card is lost, all the information could be wiped out.
The scary part for Coin card and Plastic is yet to come. Apple announced that Apple Pay is on the way. Apple pay is a contactless digital payment system where there are no cards to swipe. It also has its own security features and you could use it with your iPhone 6 or your Apple watch. Your iPhone 6 has a near field antenna that will communicate with the device in the point of sale terminal. In order to make payment you only need to touch your iPhon’s ID with your finger. The payment will be made in a secure environment.
One of the greatest advantages of this system is that no one could see the number of your credit card. In order to tell you that the payment has been made the iPhone will give you a mild vibration. With Apple watch it is a beep. In case you lose your iPhone you have the possibility to put it in lost mode. With such a convenient digital payment method going to be available in early 2015, the question arises whether the new smart cards to arrive around the same time ever be able to stand up against it. Time will tell.
