An iOS-Centered Company's Comeback to Android's NFC Technology

In 1966, people all over the world were crazed over owning a credit card, since the national credit card system had just begun to take shape. Today, 46 years later, credit card alternatives are rising and will soon eliminate credit cards. When Android’s Galaxy Nexus debuted, anticipant crowds were excited over the newly introduced Near-Field (NFC) technology. NFC enabled credit card detection just by placing your phone near an NFC-supported reader. In a smartphone-owners survey by Business Insider, 51.4% percent of the smartphones were Androids, yet we still can’t forget iPhone owners.

Approximately 33% of people who own a smartphone own an iPhone (which falls into the second majority, surpassed by the green robot). A new gadget spewed out by startup iCache, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, seems to imitate NFC technology (And in some ways, has the potential to work better). The gadget is designed as an iPhone case to increase portability. This case can digitize various credit cards using two methods, either entering data from your cards into Geode’s (The product’s name) iPhone app, or simply taking a picture of the payment cards.

Security

These days, forgetting your wallet with credit cards inside can pose a big hazard, especially if there’s no option to disable your account. Geode assures that their side of your card's safety is taken care of by providing three security measures on their end. Here are the methods, also displayed on Geode's site:

• Only the user can unlock Geode with his/her fingerprint
• Eliminated need to cancel and reorder credit cards if Geode is lost or stolen
• Universal GeoCard has auto-timeout feature

On top of that, you might even have a password on your iPhone, providing for a portable bank vault.

Besides security, an auto-timeout feature enables a user to temporarily disable their cards before the iPhone’s battery runs out. Albeit the seemingly long process of validating your account upon checkout, CEO and founder Jon Ramaci admits that the process is speedy. Until we completely eliminate the need for payment cards, this is a great alternative to NFC technology. This high-tech case will most likely debut in Mid-May at a price of $159-$199, according to Kickstarter (iCache’s feedback program).