Apple filed for a cashless smartphone-based payment system for retailers ad consumers with the U.S. Patent Office. Apple affectionados and tech-fans squeal with glee. Will it work? Will iPhone users be able to swipe their Apple-toys at the local Starbucks to cover their vente iced cappuccino-whatevers, while maintaining an air of techno-social superiority? Who knows.
To see how this systems, just view Europe, Japan, South Korea, Mexico or any of the other 'high-tech' smartphone or smartcard payment-accepting retailer environments. That's right--Europe, a bastion of tech. development and innovation has been running automated smartcard (touchless) systems for years (visa, mastercard, etc.).
What is the significance of this? Only that it can be viewed within a wider frame of reference, delineating the trend that the US is not, nor has been for a time, the leader in creating and implementing cutting-edge (bleeding-edge) technologies. Want a long-term comparison? The US in 2007 is similar to... England (not the UK) in 1932.
One thing to take away from this (one thing for local US retailers and service providers): be ready for location-aware internet (portable) devices. There are many, many ways for retailers )small and large) to make hay from this 'new' world. Payment, information, sharing/networking devices will continue to grow in popularity and usefullness. Typical example: my nephews last week were looking for Wii games. They hit a couple of the local GameStop stores (Stop? Spot? whatever.) After finding empty shelves, they banged out the map on their iPhones, called around and hit a local store that carried the game they wanted. (They should have done that first, but they wanted to hit the malls.. cherchez les femmes, no doubt.). A retailer running local-specific ads on g'maps could have caught their eye first. etc. etc. etc.
Have a Happy New Year-
-Shawn
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