London: Imagine your credit card talking
to you and displaying your balance, while doubling as a reward
card. Well, your imagination will soon turn into a reality.
Dynamics Inc is developing such cards -- due to be
introduced in the US later this year -- which will have wafer-
thin microprocessors and would run on batteries that can last
up to three years.
However, the credit cards will only display personal
information after a security code is entered.
Citibank has released the new 2G card, which has a
programmable magnetic strip and buttons on the front for users
to choose to use it as a credit card or just to spend reward
points, the `Daily Mail` reported.
A trial is currently ongoing and, if successful, it
could roll out across the country.
Even Mastercard has just released a card that has
a small LCD screen which displays a one-time code which the
customer can use to make an online purchase. It means even if
someone`s credit card details are stolen, they will be useless
to buy anything with without the one-off code.
Jeff Mullen, the CEO of Dynamics Inc which is working
on several other high-tech cards, explained that the end of
the magnetic strip has been mooted for years, but is still the
dominant payment system in the world.
He said: "Magnetic stripe readers are being placed in
more places than ever before -- like vending machines, movie
theater kiosks and taxicabs.
"Even in Japan, where the infrastructure is in place
and phones (which can make payments) have been distributed
for seven years, the volume of phone payments is significantly
less than one per cent share of transactions.
"European chip cards comprise only about 10 per cent
of cards in world."
PTI
