How is it easier to make a phone call than just swipe a card?

If it where implemented in every shop then you wouldn't need to bring your wallet. Just your mobile phone.

Phone's are about thin enough to swipe..lol

There already is a system like this (the Colorado-based FEED network). Go to H2West.com if you wanna check it out. It works at CU Boulder Campus, Noodles & Co., and a few other Colorado and San Fran-based locations.

I am going to CU and don't plan on using it, but you simply Text the FEED service with your PIN #, then it sends you a code that you give to the cashier which charges your account.

I do agree with the comment about bluetooth... that would be much easier. However, you have security to worry about. What if someone steals your phone? The answer in my mind is to start doing more biometric security, like fingerprint scanners on said phones. This could help stop all the "stolen laptop" incidents that keep coming up in the news.

You guys are missing the mark.

This isn't something an existing American cell phone can handle, Bluetooth or not. Instead, you add Sony's FeliCa RFID circuitry to the phone's case. You then wave your phone, card, or whatever in front of a sensor at the cash register.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felica
http://www.sony.net/Products/felica/
http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=8177

Also, you can look forward to a VHS vs. (Sony!) Betamax battle with MasterCard's competing PayPass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterCard#PayPass
http://www.priceless.com/cards/paypass/

The McDonalds by my work accepts PayPass.

http://www.rfidnews.org/news/2004/08/19/mcdonalds-expands-cashless-payment-options-for-customers-with-mastercard-paypass/

So does the Jack In The Box across the street from my house.

http://www.smartcardalliance.org/articles/2006/11/06/jack-in-the-box-reg-restaurants-accept-contactless-payment-to-provide-faster-easier-service

You can tell I eat lot's of fast food.

I don't have any kind of MasterCard, leave alone PayPass, so I can't tell you how that works.

I *did* take part in Sony's test of their FeliCa system in the US, so I have their credit card-sized FeliCa smartcard and USB reader, which in the Wikipedia article is called "PaSoRi" but in this country Sony called it their "Wave" card and reader. When I signed up I received in the mail a small box with the card and reader, and instructions on how to download and install the software from a Sony web site.

The software was in three parts: a diagnostics program, a program to enter personal data (name, address, etc.) and up to three credit cards into the Wave smartcard, and an ActiveX component installed into IE 6. The ActiveX component added a toolbar to IE which allowed you to enter information from the card into a web page, like when you are buying something from Amazon.com. I think it also allowed you to store website passwords, but I have no experience with that.

I used the card only once, at a SonyStyle store. The reader was behind the counter, not the counter I was at, but a different one at the back of the store, so we had to walk there and then give my card to the clerk to be read. That all missed the point, I thought.

The IE toolbar I also used once, at Amazon.com. Unfortunately the ActiveX required Administrator privileges to run *rolls eyes* and I don't run as admin. Also, I prefer to use Firefox, not IE. The form-filling function sort of worked, but I recall there was a field that wasn't filled that should have been, and I had to type it in manually.

I was wondering how a FeliCa phone would work. If I read Floodguy's post correctly, you don't program it with a CC number. Rather, you pay for value in advance, like you would with a gift card such as McDonalds' Arch card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Suica