In this day and age, your cell phone is probably the most versatile everyday gadget out there.  You use it for phone, internet, music, video, calculator, alarm clock, you name it, a cell phone will do it.  Especially with the iPhones and the infinite apps you can get - it’s a Swiss Army Knife of digital gadetry.

But what if your cell phone could become your credit card?  It’s not that far-fetched an idea… Japan’s been using a credit card/cell phone system for years.  But now, it’s being tested in Canada.  A pilot project started up this summer between Visa, Royal Bank, and Rogers - putting this mobile payment system to the test.

A tiny chip is put inside the cell phone, which connects to a sensor on the payment terminal over-the air as it’s waved in front.  It essentially works like those quick-pay scans at the gas pump.  You just wave your phone past the panel, and you instantly pay by credit card.  Apparently it only takes seconds, and a text message is instantly sent to you as a digital receipt of your purchase.

I guess the big question is how people will know their personal information is safe.  Security is paramount these days.  According to Visa Canada, the data is completely encrypted.  That means as the credit card details travel from your phone to the scanning panel, it’s basically hidden under digital gibberish.  So, the credit card number itself isn’t actually being transmitted - it’s a code for it instead.  And Visa also says there are other layers of security put in by the bank which will prevent a hacker from getting your information, even if they put a month’s worth of work into hacking the encrypted details.

I think it makes sense that they’re considering this system.  I mean, we already pay for things like ringtones and apps through our cell phone - why not make the device available to use as a credit card?  If it’s stolen, you can call and de-activate your sim card within minutes.  And they’re talking about implementing a threshold for transactions, whereby transactions above say, 20 dollars would require you to unlock the phone or put in a security password.

As long as they figure out how to ease the public’s mind that it’s a safe and secure process, I think we’ll start seeing cell phones will flashing around, making payments at the gas station, fast food restaurants and movie theatres sooner than you might think think.