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It now appears as if PayPal are now working on their own form of payment technology; turning their back on Near Field Communications (NFC). Although they have experimented with NFC in their Android application and as a point of sales system in Sweden recently, they do not see the brilliance of it.
“By the time NFC catches up, we’ll be in a world that will move away from the point-of-sales terminal,” said PayPal's Vice President of Mobile, David Marcus to All Things Digital.
Instead, PayPal plans to connect your PayPal account to your phone number and PIN code. When you purchase something at a participating retailer you can select the PayPal option then enter your mobile number and your PIN code. A key advantage for this system is that it can be incorporated into existing hardware, whereas NFC payments require extra hardware.
While this obviously means you won't have to pull out your phone or wallet it does mean you'll have to enter at least a ten digit mobile number plus your PIN, I don't see how this is any easier or more convenient.
Kitguru says: I'm not too sure about this; I reckon at least half of the people I know would find it easier to just pull out their credit card, or their NFC-enabled phone for that matter.
It seems pretty crazy they think POS terminals won’t exist in the future. So then what exactly will the retailer use to enter the customer’s PayPal or phone details? Surely a POS terminal! As for the 8 year old Nokia in the picture, it’s probably a future retro design 😉