Sticker Based Contactless

Now more than two years ago we saw presentations by vendors pushing contactless payment in smart cards and cellphones. At the time I brought up the fact that you could just affix a sticker on a card or phone to implement a passive RFID. The speaker suggested that this partial solution would be 'unlikely'. In StoreBackTalk it is mentioned that just such a simple approach is being used.

I now see the enhanced readers everywhere, like the one at the right. These allow either contactless payment or swiping, but have yet to see them used in a contactless mode in my presence. The post in Storefront ... suggests that this misses the point of problems with the idea " ... typical contactless payment methods have not given consumers any real reason to use them. With no significant convenience or cost-savings issue, one need not look too far to figure out why contactless is struggling in many sectors ... " . I agree, it is very easy to swipe a card ... contactless is not much easier.