Chips with everything

Article Abstract:

The smart card is finally on the brink of revolutionizing the way people live and do business two decades after its invention. Developed in the 1970s, the card was not taken seriously because it was initially perceived as a gimmicky device. Now that the commercial potential of the smart card is widely recognized, it is expected to be used increasingly as a replacement for cash, as a sophisticated bank card, and as a means of payment for communication, transportation and utility services. The smart cards of the future may also be expected to be used to store medical information and to pay for a wider variety of services, such as parking, mobile telephones and pay-television programs. The UK Smart Card Club predicts that the number of smart cards in use in the country will explode from the current 3.5 million to 144 million by the year 2000.

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The end of cash as we know it?

Article Abstract:

The smart card industry is making progress in terms of applications. It is now being used in the form of telephone cards, satellite television decoder cards, mobile phone cards and loyalty cards. About one billion smart cards were distributed in 1998 and the global market is expected to expand from $722 million in 1998 to $4.8 billion in 2002. However, the industry still has to deal with certain constraints. The lack of a universally accepted standard means that the industry remains very much fragmented although several players are already initiating efforts toward standardization. The reluctance of merchandisers to recognize these cards and of consumers to use these 'electronic purses' is also proving to be a major hindrance. Some believe that this can be dealt with through a well-defined set of applications.

Misc. business credit institutions, Misc Credit/Debit Svcs, Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation, Evaluation, Financial services, Plastic transaction card industry, Personal identification products industry

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A smart way to win

Article Abstract:

The UK may soon become a cashless society if the scheduled experiment with smartcard technology in Swindon proves a success. The smartcard looks like an ordinary credit card, but it comes with a microprocessor chip that can store huge amounts of information, perform highly complicated calculations and run applications software. This technology not only offers an alternative to magnetic stripes bank card, but it has also paved the way for the development of a new payment medium, the electronic purse. The Mondex system to be tested in Swindon is a typical electronic purse. It eliminates the need for notes and coins because the smartcard can be loaded with a cash value. Mondex was developed by a firm with the same name and is the brainchild of NatWest.

Plastic transaction cards, Transaction cards

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