A CNN article by John Sutter states that within 5 years, people could not be carrying wallets and strictly relying on their phones for e-payments. Phones could also have such capabilities as: open doors for access, show identification, and show bus/train/subway pass. Like mostly every other new technology, this advancement has been going on for some time over in Asia, namely- Japan. Forrester Research took a survey of 963 people, and found that 15% were buying items in physical stores, but with their phones as the means of payment.
At the end of 2008, the International Telecommunication Union found that 2 out of 3 people own a cell phone. This number is rapidly growing annually. Even more rapidly is the growth of cell phones with internet capability. This all proves that e-commerce capability in phones is in the near future. The International Telecommunication Union stated "By 2012, 190 million people will make mobile payments." The U.S. definitely has the potential to develop this new type of payment, for devices like the iPhone have brought about a new age of what can be done with a phone. Some apps do what this article is talking about- namely, move money from saving to checking accounts, check bank statements, ect.
There is a serious problem with having all that information in a phone though. Walking around with a device to access to your checking account and personal information poses a serious threat. People that normally seek to pick-pocket wallets may look to steal phones, where they can not only spend your money, but at the same time steal your identity. Of course there would be passwords and security measures in order that this not happen, but hackers become more intelligent with technology.
Forrester Research believes that the recession will hold this development back. For just like the birth of the credit card, where every single store had to adapt and pay for the utilites to accept credit cards, now they would have to invest in accepting the technology for e-payments over a phone. This adaption could take a while.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/24/tech.cell.phone.wallet/index.html
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While this new adaptation may take some time for everyone to adjust I think that e-payments and nearly everything else a person could need or want will eventually be able to be stored on a phone. Technological advancements take time and a lot of money but this looks to be the direction our society is heading in. While being able to pay for things via your phone is extremely convenient, the security for this is always an issue. One way to avoid identity fraud when it comes to having all your personal and credit information in one place on your phone, new cell phonme models could consider having finger print identification as a phone lock. Ive seen some laptops with this type of security and from what I've seen I think this is type of security could be successful. Another way ensure security would be to have adjusting passwords to unlock the phone. I know som private companies give their employers a key chain where the numbers for their password change every few hours which makes hacking very difficult. I'm curious to see what will happen with this idea in the future. Twenty years ago when DVD's didn't exist and cell phones were larger than regular phones, I'm sure no one could predict the technological advancements that have taken place. It's only a matter of time before everything we do in life is completely simplified by technology.
ReplyDeleteI agree that as time goes on and technology continues to advance, cell phones will develop capabilities that allow them to replace the use of wallets and nearly everything kept in them. Most Americans utilize some form of online bill payment or online banking, so as more and more cell phones have internet capabilities, it will become easier for the technology to replace traditional payment methods. I don't think this is necessarily a good idea, but it seems inevitable. As Ernie mentioned, it would be all too simple for someone to steal an entire identity by simply pickpocketing a cell phone. No matter how many preventative measures are taken by the financial and identification applications, it is likely that there will always be people with the means to bypass the security.
ReplyDeleteI think this article is not only very interesting, but true. The advancements in technology have been incredible; and it's only advancing further and further as time progresses. Like Julie said, who would have thought that almost all aspects of life could be held in the palm of our hand. Obviously relating to cell phones, no one thought that the old cell phone that was the size of a shoe could be transformed into this small pocket-size object that has more power and knowledge than anything; it's honestly incredible. John Sutter's prediction of people no longer needing to carry a wallet around, but using their cell phne for pretty much everything...I wouldn't be shocked if it comes true because that's how fast technology is advancing.
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be very interesting. It is crazy how far technology continues to advance. With that said, this I am not a huge supporter of a cell phone that literally does everything. Speaking from personal experience, losing a cell phone is stressful enough, imagine losing a cell phone with virtually your entire life on it. I do not think that I would need to make all of my purchases and do all of my banking on a cell phone, let alone use it as a license and a subway pass. It appears that this cell phone could also lead to a lot of identity theft from something as somebody stealing your phone. Overall, i am not surprised that this technology is coming, but I do not know how necessary it is.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most interesting ideas I have heard in a long time. To just be able to carry around a cell phone and not worry about keys, ID, or money in a wallet would make life so much easier. I have a Blackberry and I can tell you from my own experience that the technology that comes with a smart phone is amazing enough and to think that in a few years I won’t have to worry bringing anything out but my phone would be wonderful. The only problem as was stated is the security of this new technology, now that everything is consolidated into one device it becomes more dangerous to lose your phone. Not to mention the costs of upgrading everything, identity theft and theft would increase exceptionally, so before this technology gets released the security needs to evolve with it otherwise this product will be too risky to own.
ReplyDeleteWith the excessive use of smart-phones, blackberries, and iphones, this article was not very shocking. Being a blackberry user myself, I find that my phone is one of the most important things to have with me at all times. For most people in today's society, I feel that this statement stands true. It is only a matter of time for when cell phones can actually replace one's ID and wallet. A few things that worry me include: identity theft and health risks. Identity theft would be quite simple if all of one's information was on a single device. If someone lost their cell phone, which is so common to do, it would be incredibly nerve-racking to make sure all of their personal information stayed secure. As for health risks, I have recently read articles regarding radiation and cancers that have been caused by excessive use of cell phones. If a regular cell phone is said to have deadly risks, wouldn't these phones be even worse? Ultimately, however, I feel that eventually a cell phone will be one's main form of identification for all purposes.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that everything is done via cell phone has good and bad effects. It is an excellent way to have information such as bank statements and checking accounts at the tips of our fingers. Being able to check up on bank accounts is very useful when not at home or near a computer. These types of everyday things that can now be done on the go is very productive for our society. Business transactions will be much more faster and efficient. While this new technology brings an easier way to do business or simple things like providing your identification, it also has a very bad consequence if lost. If you were to loose your phone your "whole life" practically would be lost. All passwords to bank accounts and access to identification are now in the hands to whomever finds this phone. This could be very dangerous and increase the risk of identity theft or theft of bank accounts. While technology is rapidly improving sometimes these improvements can have very serious consequences.
ReplyDeleteI think this article is very interesting because the technological advancements that our world has made is amazing. People can do absolutely anything on a cell phone these days and they can gain access to everything and anything off of the internet. However, the more advancements our world makes, the easier it is to know what people are doing at every second of the day. people can find out anything about you if you lose your cell phone. Blackberry's contain information that would not want to lose. These technological advancements may be convenient, but I find them to be over the top.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting. It would definitely be extremely convenient to have get all your information at the touch of a button. Like Tara, I am also a blackberry user and, therefore, i have become very dependent on my cell phone as the source of all my contacts, messages, and even emails. Today, if I lose my phone I am already completely disconnected from everyone and I cannot access my email. By adding on even more important items like banking information seems too much information to be in one place. With all this new technology on phones, it could become a huge inconvenience in the case that it is forgotten at home or work and especially if it is lost. In regards to cases of a stolen or lost phone, it seems too risky to have everything in one place. Unless security advances to the point where only the owner of the cell phone has the ability to get information out of the phone, it seems like identity theft would be too easy a procedure. With these new technologies, people would become too dependent on their cell phones because not having a phone can result in all of their information being stolen, not to mention they will be largely inconvenienced throughout their day.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to what Charlie said I find this article to be one of the more interesting ones that I have stumbled upon. The idea of cell phones to be able to process so much information is incredible to me. I can remember back to when I thought a picture phone was cool, then we moved on to the internet through Blackberry's and Iphones, it's magnificent to me that cell phones are introducing capabilities that can transfer payments, scan ID's, and grant open door access. The one question I have is how reliable the phone technology distribution is with reference to bank statements, I can see problems occurring with fraud and different types of internet hacker's being able to steal money; like Ernie said, with the growing technology, hackers too become more intelligent.
ReplyDeleteI think that today's technology is creating a lot of new opportunities for the future. Smart phones are becoming more and more popular and it seems like people that have iphones feel dependent on them and feel the need to stay connected with the internet at all times. I think that being able to make payments with one's phone is a really good and revolutionary idea, but at the same time, like Ernie said, it could be really dangerous too. I think unless there is some fool proof system people are always going to be able to find ways overcome security measures. Not only that, but phones are relatively easy to lose, even more so than wallets because they can fall out of a pocket easier. Losing one's phone would be devastating. Furthermore, if there were virus made for phones that seems like it would also be very dangerous. However, I think that if each person's information was stored in their phone service carrier's database then it would be a lot easier to replace your information electronically onto a new phone instead of having to buy a new wallet, license, losing money, etc. I am excited to see how this technology progresses in the future and am interested to see if technologies will be able to make it a safe a viable option.
ReplyDeleteThe multipurpose smart phone is awesome and will continue to get even better. For years, consumers have been demanding mobile multimedia devices that truly connect to our lives. In my opinion, the iPhone is the best cellular device on the market. It allows you to do so much on just one device. Adding a payment option to smart phones would continue making our lives paperless. It would further consolidate items we carry into a multipurpose device. The rise of smart-phones will however have its setbacks. Hacker's will find ways to corrupt our phones and extract private information. A payment option on smart phones will increase identity theft. IT departments must develop the strongest encryption and security software for our phones. For this innovative software to work, we must have the security to back it up.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think that this is a very cool invention, and I think that it will do wonders in terms of the speed that it takes to make payments, I am a little skeptical as to whether this will be a very secure and safe process to make payments. If these phones are not secure and reliable enough, then all of our financial information is at risk. I do think though that it is very cool that cell phones have transformed this much in such a short period of time. I do not think that any one could have imagined that cell phones would be this advanced in such a short period of time.
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ReplyDeleteThis new advancement does seem convenient in that it will make a person's life less complex; however, similar to many new technological advancements, this concept does obtain some imperfections. The most notable one that I noticed is that it is quite easy to lose a cell phone. This can create quite a problem considering the expansive features this could obtain. Moreover, its abilities and information can be accessed without the user's consent. Additionally, this reminded me of the possibility of "cyber warfare," in which our guest speaker, Ryan, spoke about. It may seem ridiculous to some, but I feel this is could potentially happen. If so, a person's phone can be accessed without ethical intentions.
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