Bank of America retrofits BlackBerrys with NFC

Bank of America is bringing pay-by-tap to the masses, or at least a small trial group of BlackBerry users, by using a removable card and a replacement battery. That's significant as it means that the latest trials, spotted by Boy Genius Report (which has provided screen shots of the offer), will be using a secure element owned …

[Tom 35]

microSD

And what if I want to use the microSD slot for storage? I think I'd just as soon pay the old way.

I don't realy trust any of that lot. I think the banks are the lesser evil but not by much.

[Kit-Fox]

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You know I hate to say things like this, but;

I remember the good old days, when you could pay with physical cash for an item or service rather than all this non-cash that only exists in 1s & 0s

[as2003]

not me...

I get annoyed when I'm forced to pay with cash. I always have cards on me, but I frequently have no cash!

Horses for courses I suppose.

[DLSmith]

So what happens...

While I am not a Luddite, what happens when either accidentally or on purpose this handy method of payment goes titsup. And it will sooner or later, no system designed by man has a 100% uptime rate.. So many people no longer carry any cash that when this happens, what will they do?

To be honest I really don't care.

Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

And, sooner or later we all know, some ne'er do well is going to come up with some kit to steal the cash in your virtual wallet.

[Anonymous Coward]

pay by waving your mobile?

Why the fuck would anyone want to do that, we already know oystercards et al are insecure, so now when some little prick steals your phone he can empty your bank account as well as run up huge bills.

[Piloti]

Some Reality.....

As Ford Prefect said...

"If you can't scratch a window with it, I don't accept it."

P.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not my bloody bank

I dont have a lot of interest in paying this way in any case. but if I did I wouldn't fancy either my bank or network having the monopoly on the how/when/what. I can see more mileage in a low value payment system that works on a top-up basis, with no more than 25 quid or so at one time (a fairly painless amount to lose), and definitely without a hotline to raping my bank account for more.

In the hands of a third party, it might prove cheap enough to use, but if the banks become the natural conduit, the charge for use will go (as with prepay credit cards) from bad to a great deal worse once everyones used to it.