Originally Posted by
architect1337
I suspect the concept of the credit card / debit card will remain, but the means to use it will, I expect, go biometric.
This means you have no physical card to worry about, you just press your thumb and perhaps type in a PIN at a POS terminal (which will have to give you the option of which virtual 'credit card' to use e.g. your AMEX, your VISA etc.
We are talking about the future so this just means POS terminals will need to be updated and all countries will need to be connected to faster networks.
You still get the 'benefits' of each card - you just no longer have a physical card anymore.
And this would work in an "offline" situation how?
(It's seriously limiting to not be able to use credit cards just because the connection is down. There's often a backup method, but it needs either raised digits on the card so they can dig the old card machine out of the closet, or someone writing down all the info from the card as if they were taking a card order over the phone. I don't see how a finger subsitutes for either of those.)
I can think of plenty of situations where cards are currently processed "offline". Starting with, of relevance to many FTers, the online portable card machines for buying food/drinks/etc in coach on several legacy airlines. And then there's all those unattended rural gas statiion in France (where only "offline" chip and PIN cards work).