VZW, AT&T, & T-Mo team up to replace credit cards with smartphones

Wirefly Learn » Wireless News

August 2nd, 2010

By Ari Driessen

Will that be cash, plastic, or smartphone? Three of the four major U.S. carriers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile have teamed up with Discover Financial Services to bring a contactless payment system to your smartphone according to a Bloomberg report.

A shot across the bow of Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., the payment system is set to be trialed at stores in Atlanta and three other U.S. cities and threatens to make credit cards as we know them go the way of…well, cash. Payments will be able to be made with a simple wave of the smartphone.

While the concept of contactless payments using a mobile device is hardly a new one, and Visa has already made its own forays into the world of smartphone payments, the newfangled partnership between the three industry heavyweights stands to make a credit card-less world a reality sooner than you may think.

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