What an intriguing idea.
US identity specialist NXT-ID has filed a patent for a very different kind of mobile wallet, which it calls The Wocket.
Here’s the basic idea.
NXT-ID thinks Isis et al are wrong for moving the wallet into the phone. It’s not secure, drains the battery and excludes those with older devices.
So instead it’s working on some kind of small device that stores the details of all cards (credit and debit, ID, loyalty etc) and protects them with clever identity tech like voice, fingerprint and retina.
The user then inserts one single plastic card and ‘unlocks’ whichever card he or she wants to use using biometrics.
It’s hard to be more precise than this, as details are pretty scarce.
Still, it’s a pretty audacious idea when nearly everyone else wants to eradicate plastic completely.
This is how Gino Pereira, CEO of NXT-ID, describes it:
“The NXTCard replaces multiple cards that are currently kept in the wallet with a single secure card.
“What is unique about this invention is that it secures private information found within a typical wallet, such as credit cards, debit cards, identification information, medical information and records and makes this private information available to owners via an interface made so simple that anyone can use it as they would use their wallet today.
“The Wocket requires unique biometrically enabled multi-factor authentication. This ensures only owners and their private information can be copied from the secure vault wallet device to the programmable magnetic stripe NXTCard.
“Authenticated users may then select payment information, via touch display or voice command and use the NXTCard as they would any other magnetic stripe credit or debit card.”