Why Coin isn’t the future of payments
Beware: the ‘card to end all cards’ has a few hurdles to beat yet.
It’s easy to sell the concept of a new product, but much more difficult to manage the expectations of customers.
The Coin card promises tie all of your wallet cards into one card, and has been getting an enormous amount of hype over the past 24 hours.
While many are getting caught up in the euphoria of the coin concept, I thought I would inject a little caution and some points of observation with my experience as an engineer and product developer.
Swipe payments are redundant outside the USA
Both Chip n’Pin and NFC are the dominant forms of payment in the UK, Europe and Japan. A recent post by Visa says that one in every four Visa cards in the UK alone is now contactless, with 26.9 million cards in circulation. Shoppers already spend over €1billion using contactless cards and smartphones equipped with a Visa. Most frequent travellers on public transport in Europe use contactless cards everyday. A swipe card in this context is absurd .
If it’s that thin, how well will Coin actually work?
If the technology is to be believed, the engineers at Coin have done an amazing job of shoehorning, data processing, Bluetooth, a battery and the associated technology into a form factor of less than 1mm.
I’ve been developing Bluetooth products for over 8 years, including the new Bluetooth low energy, and I question how practical coin will be— particularly if you want a product that’s useable over several years. Some observers think it won’t evolve beyond a functional prototype. As an entrepreneur I want to discount them, as an engineer I’m inclined to agree.
Battery life is a concern
This $100 card has to be replaced every two years because it doesn’t recharge, and there’s little evidence it will actually last that long without having to test it. Even so, that’s a hefty price to pay every two years just to have a thinner wallet.
The coin card now seems to have a solid fan base, despite some early concerns about theft and privacy, which is a great start. I hope coin lives up to the hype because, if not, it may very well hold back products with a similar role in replacing the cards in your wallets, but with a more solid technical foundation.
For example, my own product, the nio Card is real, rechargeable, has contactless payments, has solid security because it only works in range of your phone, and you’re in complete control of your data and privacy. Oh, and it adds NFC functions to your iPhone. And all for the same price, or less if you pre-order, and available months sooner.
Despite this, it’s a great thing that the Coin card has brought the concept of ‘One card to rule them all’ to the mainstream as it’s long overdue. Our card might be 4mm-thin compared to 1mm, but at least it’s real and works right now.
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