MasterCard desires that the latest gadgets should be turned into a credit card. According to a report on Digital Trends, Mastercard has something brewing that will allow devices like smart rings, car keys, fitness trackers, and even fitness trackers to be used as credit cards to make payments for store purchases. It's just like what current smart phones can do with Apple Pay and Android Pay, only more technologically ahead.
MasterCard has already taken the first steps and rounded up partners who have already put together mock-up units. GM has made a key fob with MasterCard's wireless payments tech that is already built in; Ringly has also done the same with an adaptation of its smart ring; and Nymi, a heartwave-sensing wristband has also come up with a smart wristband.
Once everything is connected, basically anything at han could be used to pay. Wonderful, isn't it?
The objective is to make a payment - and, of course, that means paying with the use of your credit card - the easiest possible way. Instead of needing to own a specific device on you and at the ready, MasterCard wants you to directly swipe the keys that you already have in your hand or the ring that's already on your finger. In doing so, it's beginning to get ahead of the boom in linked gadgets. MasterCard is creating a picture of a world in which its technology would even allow an associated clothing to make payments.
At the moment, only MasterCards that are issued through Capital One will be promoted on these small connected gadgets, but MasterCard has a lot of time to get others on board before these devices would be used. The first products that support MasterCard's new payments technology scheme will arrive in the US next year, with extension into other countries to follow.
