Not all of us like to live our financial lives like
George Constanza. Many in the technology field have been waiting for a day when we would be carrying electronic wallets, rather than those full of paper and plastic. While more items are moving to online transactions, that paper and plastic have not yet been eliminated. Well, there is a product coming to market (pending a successful crowd-funding campaign) in 2014 that would seek to eliminate at least the plastic from your wallet. That product is called
Coin, a device that stores and functions as any plastic cards you may have in your wallet.
Coin was designed by Kanishk Parashar, formerly of eBay and PayPal. The prototypes were built by hand, and he has successfully used the Coin device to get lunch. The short definition of Coin is that it is an electronic credit card that stores all your cards via 128-bit or 256-bit encryption though a smartphone app. Eight of these cards can be held on the Coin device at one time (if you have more than eight, perhaps it's time to go to the mall and shed those gift cards). Of course, while the convenience of the device is pretty amazing, most of the questions surrounding it will have to do with fraud and security. When dealing with credit cards and bank accounts, keeping those accounts secure will be paramount. While Coin is not directly responsible for any fraud that may occur, opening themselves up to the possibility would not bode well for them.
In the video above, security is mentioned, though it is just physical security of the Coin device. In constant connection with your phone (via Bluetooth Low Energy) the Coin App will notify you if your Coin is out of range of your phone. This means at least you won't be leaving it behind at the restaurant. It also means that you should probably tape it to the back of your phone, as I know many Bluetooth pairings don't reach from the bedroom to the garage. What happens when Coin is out of contact with your phone? It deactivates itself of course. You can reactivate through the app, which you should probably get used to if you
pre-order, as separation is inevitable. Some folk (influential in the tech universe as well), are
already on board with pre-ordering Coin. A mere $55 (after funding, price jumps to $100) will consolidate all your plastic into one device, regardless of possible security concerns.
According to their
FAQ, the Coin app requires that you take a picture of the front and back of your card, type in the card details and swipe in the magnetic stripe information (with a provided device like Square) so that all details match. So you have to be physically holding a card to do all this. The FAQ also says that the Coin app will only allow you to add cards you own, but how does the app know you own a card? Is the app in constant contact with banks and credit card companies? At this point, the answer to that is unknown. Basically, someone could easily "borrow" your credit card, enter all pertinent information and return the card before you'd known it was gone. Of course, there are current skimming devices out there that already enable this, so Coin is only making it a tad simpler for those types of thieves. Regardless, the onus of security is on the consumer, as they should be checking their account regularly for fraud. Just because all cards are on one device doesn't mean fraud ends.
With a two year life span, a toggle button that apparently is designed to avoid a waiter or someone you've handed your card to accidentally changing the selected card, Coin seems to be a physically solid device. Like anyone else, getting hands on will be key, and adding all those stupid gift cards that have pennies left on them. As for the above mentioned security concerns, none of them don't already exist with your pile of credit and debit cards. Having them all on one card doesn't absolve the consumer of responsibility when it comes to self security, in fact, it should heighten that kind of awareness. The connection to the Coin app on the phone, and automatic deactivation should help put consumers at ease a bit, but being a responsible card holder can't hurt.
Besides security, will consumers and merchants embrace Coin? That question has plagued companies attempting to enter the payments market for some time. Aside from consumers shifting their behavior, merchants will be the deciding point in whether or not Coin is accepted. Whether it works or not isn't the issue, whether the merchant thinks you aren't messing with them handing them a pretend looking credit card is. Coin is innovative, but may face a struggle being embraced though early activity on Twitter suggests that perhaps those embedded in tech won't have an issue with adapting, as the purchase and referral tweets have already been rolling in.
Coin is set to hit market in Summer 2014 according to the FAQ, which should be just in time to get an
Xbox One or PS4 if you get in line this weekend. Of course, we all know the meta result of this will be a consumer using
Coin to purchase something via
Square. via Technology articles at Technorati http://feeds09.technorati.com/~r/tr-technology/~3/pHRi_wmQu9Q/
