The first ever mobile payment was with Coca-Cola in 1997. This started the idea of using your mobile to pay for things. Over time, the mobile payment side of tech has gotten even better and more advanced, and people use their mobile phones to pay for nearly everything, whether it’s an online transaction or in a store with Apple Pay. It’s a major part of the phone nowadays.
The technical aspects of payment can be a little confusing to the average consumer. Most companies these days use an NFC chip, which sends encrypted data back and forth to process the payment.
How Phone Payments Affect Society
With Apple Pay and Google Pay, the use of a physical card is getting less and less popular, and this could have a big effect on the banks that we use. With Apple’s new ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ system, it could not be too long until we see Apple make their banking system. As of 2024, Apple Inc. is one of the most valuable companies in the world and a massive force in the tech world. With Apple Pay being around for a decade and taking over how we pay for things, could Apple start a bank and challenge the biggest banks around the world?
The biggest phone payment options
As we mentioned earlier, the two biggest phone payment options are Apple Pay and Google Pay. These two are the giants and are used the most. A big one in a similar vein is Samsung Pay. Both are big, but for most Android phones, Google Pay is the best option. One of the smaller options that is still quite popular is phone bill banking. Less popular now are usually online casinos that accept pay-by-phone bill deposits. To do this, you take a payment of usually a maximum of £30 (645.13 Mexican Pesos), and it will come out of your phone bill. It is still popular, but with giants like Apple Pay and Google Pay, it has been seen less.
Convenience
The biggest selling point for on-phone payments is how easy they are. If you forgot your wallet or purse before Apple or Google Pay were around, then you would not be able to pay for anything. With their new phones and range of wearable options, payments are much easier, and you will never leave the house without your phone, so you will always have a payment option.
The drawback of this is your reliance on your phones. Phones have been slowly taking over the world, and nearly every person in the world will have access to a phone. Slowly but surely, the use of anything other than a phone will be seen as pointless when everything is in your pocket instantly.
Safety of phone payments
At first glance, Apple Pay or Google Pay may seem very unsafe because if you lose your phone that has your bank card built into it, it has been proven that phone payments are safer to use than a physical card. To use your wallet on your phone, you need to access it with a face ID, a touch ID, or a passcode, making it seemingly impossible for someone to spend on your phone. The next worry is hackers.
If Apple or Google get hacked and have a data leak, you would assume your information would also be part of the leaked information. However, these banking options use a unique transaction code and a number linked to the phone, so your personal information is completely safe from potential hackers.
Conclusion
Overall, the use of online and mobile payment options is a good thing. The positives outweigh the negatives. The safety that they promise is a level above a physical card, and this is a major positive for people, as well as the convenience that they offer. Having your phone constantly on you means you can always pay for things on the go, even if you forget your card.
About the Author/s
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.
