Near Field Communication has been at the forefront of payment technology for a couple of years now. We've seen the tech ship on multiple smartphones to facilitate paying for things at places like gas stations and convenience stores. A new technology from MasterCard being unveiled in Singapore, however, could rival NFC in sheer terms of awesomeness.
The credit card company worked with Standard Chartered to launch what is essentially a credit card with a built-in display and touch-sensitive keypad. It's described as an interactive payment card, or security token card, which uses MasterCard's Display Card technology.
The display and keypad allow cardholders to generate a one-time password that is used as an authentication security measure. MasterCard says that future revisions will be able to display things like available card balance, loyalty or reward points, recent transactions and other interactive information.
The card will become standard issue for all Standard Chartered Online Banking and Breeze Mobile Banking users starting in January 2013. They say it'll be particularly useful for high-risk transactions like payments or transfers above a certain amount or when adding third party payees.
Furthermore, all MasterCard Super Salary, XtraSaver and Bonus$aver debit cards issued in Singapore will be converted to Display cards. The company didn't mention if this technology would soon be introduced in other parts of the world.
Would you be more inclined to use something like this to pay for goods versus an NFC-enabled device given the potential security risks that the latter may have?