Credit Cards: They’re Beginning to Look a Lot Like Jewelry?
How excited were you when speed pass came out, allowing you to “speed” right through the gas stations- flashing your key chain at the cute light up thing on the pump and then filling up?! Getting gas had never been so fun…
What if you could “speed” buy everything? In some states, if you slap a special Timex watch on your wrist, you can do just that. Timex and Speed Pass joined together a few years ago, and created a watch with the speed pass chip inside. Essentially, the watch is like a debit card. You hold your wrist an inch from the special reader on the front of certain credit card readers, and your purchase will be automatically debited from the account you’ve connected to your watch.
The specially designed Timex watches were developed as a market test- apparently, they failed the test because you cannot currently purchase a credit/debit enabled Timex watch.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a “comeback” though, with all the advancements in credit card technology that is making it possible for us to make payments without handing over a credit card- like the blink technology.
