The End of the Credit Card? New Square app: Card Case

Post by thinkcomp » Thu, Nov 03, 2011, 4:21 AM UTC

gojomo wrote: post #50

thinkcomp wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty long scroll box to find the person in the first place. Or an added step as you key in the first few letters of the person's name. At large retailers or QSR chains that put a premium on fast checkout, neither option will fly. I obviously appreciate the simplicity of paying with your face.

I doubt any firstname+lastname (or even just firstname+last_initial) situation would require a scroll box... you could fit 20+ recognizable faces on a screen. Sort them by age and in the few cases where there are that many collisions, cashiers would know just where to look. Keying the name is a bigger issue... so I suspect terminals in larger retailers will eventually just detect the N nearest pay-eligible handhelds.

Post by jcampbell1 » Thu, Nov 03, 2011, 4:30 AM UTC

thinkcomp wrote: post #41

patio11 wrote: post #3

That is what disruptive innovation looks like. "Oh look, a multi-billion dollar problem people were trying to solve by getting two sides of the market to simultaneously ubiquitously install new hardware. How about we solve it with stuff they already own plus new software instead?"

I respectfully disagree. This is what an investment from Visa looks like with really good design. Not everyone was trying to get both sides to adopt new hardware, either. As long as Square uses cards for funding, it will be robbing the poor to pay the rich just like every other card company. To me, "disruptive" in the payments world means no cards, period.

Post by wanorris » Thu, Nov 03, 2011, 4:37 AM UTC

dpark wrote: post #55

Figs wrote: post #28

> Paying for stuff with your phone sounds awesome until you stop to think about it. Uh, it doesn't sound awesome to me at all. It sounds annoying and frustrating. Swiping a credit card is already pretty simple. > then tell the cashier your name Yeah, because that works great. My name is fairly common, and cashiers still manage to get it wrong, especially if it's noisy. Also, what happens when three "John Smiths" walk…

> If a restaurant's going to go to all the trouble to install a system like this and set it up so that my phone can pay them, why couldn't I just order on the phone? Then I wouldn't have to stand in line at all, and they won't have wasted their time if it turns out that I want something else instead of what I usually get. Because a smooth face to face interaction is much more pleasant than ordering via an online appl…

Post by thinkcomp » Thu, Nov 03, 2011, 4:50 AM UTC

mbreese wrote: post #76

thinkcomp wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they don't have any money transmitter licenses and it will take them a few years to get them.

You're seriously still beating this horse? Why couldn't they partner with another institution that already has the appropriate licensing? Or, alternatively, they seem well enough funded to be able to post the appropriate bonds. I get your position, but with the constant whining, you're not winning over people.

Post by dasil003 » Thu, Nov 03, 2011, 5:04 AM UTC

trjordan wrote: post #9

So, this is cool, but... Why do you have to have a smartphone to do this? If you're going to get businesses on board and use photo IDs to verify every transaction, why not just have the signup process be a webcam and a form? There's a couple of cool usability things you can do with a smartphone (proximity pushes users that are there to the top of the list in case of name conflicts, whether it's from geofencing, manua…