Citizens of most foreign countries have had the ability to pay and get paid by cellphone for the last 2 to 4 years now. Total online banking through their cellphones. No internet needed. Even most countries in Africa have enjoyed this convenience for the last couple of years. Their employers pay them by cellphone and they can spend the money by cellphone, pay debts or send money to friends or family by cellphone. Now that service has been brought to the U.S. and anyone can now get paid or spend money by cellphone. Go to a garage sale and you don't have enough cash in pocket to pay for your purchase? No problem. Pay by cellphone. Soon stores will be having that capability as well.
You also get a regular debit card with your account which is tied to your bank account or a credit card so you can spend your funds in stores that don't have that service yet or use it in an ATM machine. Better yet, there are no per-transaction or sign up fees. Paypal which is extremely popular on the net these days costs big bucks so this service ought to just about put paypal out of business. This service also has higher daily spending limits than paypal does too. Don't cost anything to sign up for it either.
In time stores will be set up so that all you have to do is point your cellphone at a store or ATM terminal and punch a couple of keys and your transaction will be complete. Terminals and cellphones will communicate with each other either through bluetooth or infrared or maybe RFID. Who knows how it will be done at this point in time but the technology is easily there to do it today.
You also get a regular debit card with your account which is tied to your bank account or a credit card so you can spend your funds in stores that don't have that service yet or use it in an ATM machine. Better yet, there are no per-transaction or sign up fees. Paypal which is extremely popular on the net these days costs big bucks so this service ought to just about put paypal out of business. This service also has higher daily spending limits than paypal does too. Don't cost anything to sign up for it either.
In time stores will be set up so that all you have to do is point your cellphone at a store or ATM terminal and punch a couple of keys and your transaction will be complete. Terminals and cellphones will communicate with each other either through bluetooth or infrared or maybe RFID. Who knows how it will be done at this point in time but the technology is easily there to do it today.
Converted to asset case 5/26/2008 [X]
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