Sticking plaster mobile phone convergence
Friday, June 11th, 2010I wish my mobile phone was all I needed to carry around. OK, it is already a phone, a browser, an email device, alarm clock, twitter client, compass, satellite navigation, games console, railway timetable, newspapers and, bizarrely, a magnifying glass. But why can’t it also be my car keys? My TV remote? My passport? My wallet?
Well, Citi have contributed to the debate by offering a sticking plaster solution, both virtually and literally. A sliver that adheres to the back of your mobile phone and enables contactless payments of up to $50 at Master Card PayPass readers. This is a proper workaround but hopefully it is proving the need for something more strategic.
Hopefully within my lifetime, we will all have a unique identity held (securely) within our mobile phone. Every time we buy a new device like a laptop or car, every time we are permitted access to a new office, club or country, every time we want to make a small or large payment, the infrastructure around us will adapt to us.
At the moment the supplier of the service or product grants us a single unique interface (for example a key). The future will be citizen-centric.