Pulling out your credit card for the world to see, sticking it in an annoying slot then typing in a PIN number does not sound secure and it is not.  Chip card readers are darn near the bane of my existence when we have payment methods such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay leading the mobile payment army.  With that being said, why are companies so slow to adopt contact-less payments?  Especially when other parts of the world have been using it for years, Canada is the perfect example (I live in the US).  For one, it will be a slight overhead to update to a newer technology and they may not want to pay those costs; however, with us moving into a more and more digital age, it will be a cost that they will need to reap sooner than later.

One reason that mobile payments aren’t being used is simply because people do not understand it nor do they want to.  However, retailers need to adopt it because it is largely more secure for the end user, which should be important because they would not be in business without us, remember that.  When mobile payments are made, your actual credit card number is not being used, a secure token is created representing your card, magic happens, then you are charged.  There is no taking your bank card out and showing the world, then additionally trying to cover up the pin pad so that an onlooker doesn’t see your pass code.  One other note is that card stripe readers can be hacked and allow thieves to put an additional skimmer over top of a legitimate reader that will store your credit card details allowing them to reproduce a copy of your card.

How easy is it to rest your thumb on your fingerprint scanner and place your phone in close proximity to the NFC terminal?  It is almost a mindless task — it is so simple.  There are no cards to poke, prod or slide — your device makes it easy.

Bottom line:  As users of tech we have to demand that mobile payments be present, not only for our security but for ease of use.  It is up to us to push the issue.