April 29, 2010
-
News: Face Gets A Lift
A new wave of technology will soon embark upon customers that seek to eliminate the traditional credit card company. The inventor of Facebook, Aaron Greenspan knows that Americans are discouraged and angry with banks and credit card companies. His new concept, FaceCash aims to capitalize on consumer dissatisfaction by providing them with an alternative payment system to replace the traditional credit card. FaceCash also competes with the latest wave of card processing programs available on electronic devices like the iPhone, Verifone, and Square as well as online payment networks such as eBay's PayPal and Intuit.
FaceCash replaces the credit card with a digital debit card integrated into a smartphone and swiped at the merchant's point of sale. Greenspan's job is to convince retailers that abandoning point of sale scanners and replacing them with a laptop and bar code scanner will provide them and their customers with priceless benefits. The system is easily implemented and Greenspan charges less for payment processing than credit card companies. Since it eliminates card networks as a middle man, merchants will eliminate the interchange fees. Consumers will find it attractive because it eliminates the need to carry around several different plastic cards not to mention the added protection of possible card loss or theft.
Raising capital to fund FaceCash isn't an issue; however, convincing merchants and consumers that his system is superior to the traditional debit and credit card will be Greenspan's greatest challenge. He plans to face the challenge by focusing on his own community in Palo Alto and Stanford University students. Experts say Greenspan's plans will be more difficult than meets the eye; after all, he'll be going up against some of the most powerful organizations in the world. However, if he's able to sustain his venture for several years, those young iTunes, social networkers, and technology savvy users will grow up demanding a FaceCash system.