There are a few areas of our lives which are undergoing and will continue to undergo extensive change as technology enables it, payments and banking is one such area. Today a US startup announced it’s revolution for swipe cards – a single card containing data for all your cards – called Coin.
COIN – Payment system for regular swipe cards.
Pretty crazy name for a swipe card, but hey, its catchy right – Coin has to work as a payment method?
The idea “Seems” simple – a credit card sized device which communicates with your smartphone via bluetooth yet the physical device itself actually still has a magnetic strip to enable the swipe card transactions.
Essentially, according to their launch video you can store multiple cards on the device simply by swiping them into your phone and then syncing to your Coin “card”.
The brilliance then is that you just swipe and pay just like you always have. Choose which card to pay with simply by tapping on a button on the card. A small screen shows you which card is enabled.
It’s a great idea, but it’s just an idea now. Mass production and testing might prove more realistic for the company.
Also, call me crazy, but this super thin electronic device – in my back pocket – jammed into my wallet – might it break or bend or distort? Not sure.
However, the idea is so good I’ve signed up. Send it my way – sometime in the middle of next year.
It’s a $50 card available to pre-order. The pre-orders are essentially funding the next wave of production development.
Good luck to them – if you’re a sceptic, perhaps wait for “Note” to launch sometime into the future:)
