December 3,2006
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New Password Technology May Allow Safer Buying
If you've ever been leery of making online or remote transactions with your credit cards, the DisplayCard may be for you.
Innovative Card Technologies, or InCard, has created a regular credit card, with a difference – a few of them, actually. DisplayCard has a password-generating chip, a battery, and –yes- a tiny display screen which generates a one-time PIN format password, to add an extra layer of security to online buying. Additionally, InCard has announced that they have the technology to have DisplayCard show prepaid balances and reward points, making it a very "smart" card indeed!
As of right now, InCard hasn't inked any deals to get DisplayCard out of the tech fairs and into the market. They announced, however, that Visa has agreed to brand their products, and that there is a lot of "interest." Perhaps potential partners for InCard are concerned about DisplayCard's cost – right now, it costs a little over $10 to make each card, whereas "normal" plastic cards generally retail in the ballpark of $0.40.