August 7, 2009
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He Causeth all..to Receive A Mark in Their Right Hand, Pt.2
Wizards & wands.Who's behind all this? Not surprisingly, many players. Those few bold enough to spearhead the effort world-wide which entails financials like credit cards are pioneers like Versatile Card Technology, located in Downers Grove, IL. They are currently shipping 1.5 billion smart-card credit cards worldwide every year. Likely, the European market will lead the way as far as technology and popular acceptance. They have been gearing up for a long time. They've already implemented smart-chip retailing where merchandise is embedded with an RFID smart-chip which can automatically be changed automatically on the shelf according to supply & demand and can be wheeled thru checkout and charged to a credit card without so much as stopping the cart -- never mind unloading the cart and scanning each item.
For years now, they've had road-side ATMs and deluxe hotels run by machines. No check-in desk, nor humans. The rates are much cheaper than those with human personnel attending. You can pick from a menu at the kiosk, all the amenities you want and the machine spits out two room cards (which also open the parking lot gate) and directions where to find your room. The rooms are beautiful and the security is great. But, of course, it's all done by credit card. they are quickly becoming a "cash-less society". To boot, they are already phasing out the "old" American-style credit cards still using magnetic strips.
The US has made some paltry gains over the years but, just like the metric system, American industry only ever takes the "me-first" approach and no one wants to invest in a joint project that might help the competition. So, we go without and still use a pre-deluvial measurement system. Case in point, an attempt was made last year to implement radio-readable credit cards in the US last year in cooperation with Walgreens and McDonalds. Trying to reach "scale-levels" the climb got too steep for Speedpass because the giants like VISA, MasterCard and Amex are more concerned with having their own specific brand in your wallet (or hand, whichever). Other countries where joint cooperation seems to work better already enjoy having multiple (different brands) credit cards programmed into cell phones (the size of a fat credit card) where pressing key combinations selects which card to approve and are scanned from 3 inches away from a reader. But not in the US. Still, American companies like VeriChip Corporation of Delray Beach, Fla will likely become heavily involved as financial incentives build. They have been imbedding smart-chips for other purposes for about 20 years now.