In light of the spying scandals it is obvious that the government wants to know on what you are spending your money. Now the banks want to make a buck off it.
Ain't AmeriKan capitali$m grand?
"Not paying by smartphone? You soon will, many bet" by Michael B. Farrell | Globe Staff, March 21, 2013
Even though most consumers don’t use their smartphones to pay for anything, some of the world’s largest financial institutions and dozens of small tech start-ups are making big bets on the adoption of the so-called mobile wallet.
Many of them gathered Wednesday at Harvard University to hash out the future of buying and selling via smartphones and other Internet-connected gadgets during a two-day forum that includes MasterCard, PayPal, and the Boston mobile payments start-up Scvngr Inc. Even a former vice president showed up: Al Gore, whose new book, “The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change,” deals with the worldwide impact of technological innovations.
Consumers have for years been able to use smartphone apps to pay for items in stores and restaurants. But only recently has the technology started catching on, and start-ups — many of them in Boston — as well as financial service giants, are racing to capture the emerging market.
“Every device will become a commerce device,” said Gary Flood, president of global products and solutions for MasterCard, which is a sponsor of the summit, Innovation Project 2013. “Technology is opening up the potential to do things in a different way around the world.”
So far, acceptance of mobile wallet technology is split along generational lines, Flood said, with many young people more willing to use their devices to pay for everything from a cup of coffee to a taxi ride. “They don’t use cash,” he said.
Indeed, people younger than 35 are more inclined to pay via smartphone, according to a December poll by Harris Interactive Inc., a New York consumer research firm. Though just 4 percent of respondents have used their phones to buy something, the survey found, more than 60 percent expect the devices will eventually replace cash and credit cards.
But how then will intelligence agencies launder drug money?
A growing number of Boston start-ups are moving to get in front of the trend....
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