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On Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST/7 p.m. GMT, @eWEEKNews will host its monthly #eWEEKChat. The topic will be “New-Gen Mobile Payment Systems: Apple, Google and Everybody Else.” It will be moderated by Chris Preimesberger, who serves as eWEEK’s editor of features and analysis.
Some quick facts:
Topic: “New-Gen Mobile Payment Systems: Apple, Google, and Everybody Else”
Date/time: Jan. 14, 2014 @11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST/7 p.m. GMT
Hosted by: @eWEEKNews
Moderator: Chris Preimesberger: @editingwhiz
Tweetchat handle: Use #eWEEKChat to follow/participate or use the widget below
Chatroom real-time links: We have two: http://tweetchat.com/room/eweekchat or http://www.tchat.io/rooms/eweekchat. Both work very well.
“New-Gen Mobile Payment Systems: Apple, Google, and Everybody Else”
Last Sept. 9, Apple held a press conference to introduce three new things: two new iPhones and Apple Pay, its homegrown payment network that virtualizes credit cards. While the new, larger and more powerful iPhones were significant news items, the most important and impactful news that day indeed was Apple Pay.
Apple Pay is catching on very fast. For example, while on a trip during the holidays in rural Western Colorado, I came across a small-town market (Don’s Market in Paonia, Colo.—population 1,500) that already had Apple Pay stations at checkout, although not one person had used it in the four weeks after it was installed.
This is only the latest in a long series of systems designed to replace credit cards and to lower risk. Google, with its Google Wallet, and PayPal have pretty much owned the sector up to now.
While Apple Pay is a wallet app, the differences between it and other digital wallets is significant. In addition to being supported by MasterCard, Visa and American Express, Apple Pay effectively virtualizes your credit cards so that the merchant never accesses the number. Instead, it stores an encrypted version of the card using a chip called the Secure Element.
The way it works is that consumers will take a photo of their credit cards, using the iPhone 6 camera. The first card becomes the default payment card, but any number of other cards can be added as well. The iPhone will let them make a payment using Near Field Communications (NFC) and a wireless enabled card reader, of which there are many.
Google Wallet and PayPal certainly have their users, and credit/debit cards aren’t going anywhere for the time being, anyway. We’re at a kind of crossroads now in terms of non-cash payments for good and services.
Our task in this eWEEKchat will be to discuss the pros and cons of these new systems and explain to each other which system(s) we want to see work for the long term. Or, will all—or none—of them work long term? Maybe there’s something completely unheard of at this time that will come along and eclipse them all.
We will pose questions such as:
–How many of you are using services like PayPal, Google Wallet and Apple Pay now?
–What are the advantages/disadvantages of each?
–Will we ever completely rid ourselves of checks and cash?
–What risks do users undertake when they use a system like Google Wallet or Apple Pay?
Plan to join us for an illuminating hour on Jan. 14. This IT affects all of us.