I wonder if this makes room in the market for some simpler device for payments. Something like a wearable that you can tap-to-pay and has the signed software attenuation but nothing else so you can't be tracked using GPS.
Heh yeah, my comment does kinda scream credit card. What I really mean is something programmable for narrow use-cases like multiple forms of payments, transit, or other stuff like building access.
Long ago we used to have ‘mini’ credit cards. You could get a two-thirds size magstripe card from some major banks that’d go right on your keychain. Discover had a cute little bean keychain with a flip-out magstripe card (the Discover2Go) as well.
At the same time there was also the Exxon-Mobil Speedpass RFID fob, and I remember there being a huge discussion about “the battle of the keychain” and whose payment instrument would win being on your keys to be used the most alongside your loyalty cards.
This will be the answer as we move away from screens as phones. Smart watches have slowly edged in, but I foresee some 'no screen' being the answer to payments, access control, etc
that exists. It's called Felica, and it's used all over Japan. train passes, vending machine, convenience stores, many restaurants. Built into iphone and a few androids.
Note that the payments are tied to a card/chip but you can (at the moment) buy new card no id/registration required
Nice. We had this in the 90s in Holland. It was called chipknip. (Knip is old slang for wallet).
It was really like digital cash, the money was loaded onto a chip. So if you lost it you lost all the money. There was no pin code either, just like a real wallet. Unfortunately it was not really anonymous because the Dutch government are really into surveillance.
It didn't really last very long, it was only popular for parking machines. In those days 2G was expensive so validating transactions online was rare.
