Picture walking up to a store's counter, two shirts in one hand, smartphone in the other.
There's no need to reach for your wallet, because all of the credit card information has been stored in your phone.
One tap of the phone against a small mobile reader next to the cash register, and you're out the door.
Welcome to the new, more intelligent world of smartphones that can double as wallets.
Just one or two smartphones currently hold the souped-up microchip technology needed to correspond with mobile phone readers that access credit card and bank information. While consumers now can scan phones across barcode readers to enter concert venues and ballparks, or to board airplanes, the concept of using a phone instead of a credit card is in its nascent stages. Complexity, a lack of available technology, and concern over protecting financial information are the chief reasons behind the slow growth.
A joint venture established a year ago with AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and some of the major banks and credit card issuers, is hoping to make the mobile wallet mainstream. The venture, called Isis, is testing its mobile wallet in a small number of stores in select markets. Isis hasn't said when the mobile wallet will be available in other markets or when the venture will expand its list of national merchants, said Jaymee Johnson, head of marketing.
"The mobile wallet is going to be a heck of a convenience," said Richard Mader, executive director of the Association for Retail Technology Standards, a division of the National Retail Federation.
Eventually, customers who have the Isis Mobile Wallet setup on their mobile phones will be able to pay for things using it instead of a bank card at any store or venue that has a mobile payment system.
"There's a huge opportunity there in terms of making things easier, and we're getting into a completely new line of business that we're very excited about," AT&T Mobility Chief Executive Officer Ralph de la Vega said.
"Just think that you'll be able to pay for anything with that device … from accessing a vending machine … to buying any kind of goods and services."
Isis joins Google and PayPal as companies trying to make it easier for consumers to use their smartphones to buy clothes, tickets and other basic items. In short, consumers have to load credit card, debit card and banking information onto their phone. That information is transmitted to a store or venue once the phone is tapped or scanned across a special mobile reader at checkout.
Right now the sector is small: Internet payment companies such as PayPal have developed mobile apps and Google is testing the Google Wallet, just to name a few.
The slow pace is due to a variety of reasons. Besides the small number of smartphones that are equipped to operate like a wallet, only a slightly larger number of retailers currently are using the corresponding technology in stores. The larger reason, however, is that it's still easier for consumers to reach for their wallet, grab their American Express card and swipe it across a card reader.
"The way that consumers view payments now is not broken," said Mark Beccue, a senior analyst for the technology market research firm, ABI Research. "For it to motivate (consumers), there has to be something else."
