Meet the PayPal Beacon, a USB dongle, powered by Bluetooth Low Energy that will await PayPal customers in compatible PoS (points of sale), recognize them as they walk in and even let them automatically pay for their goods, no hands required.
Currently, the PoS that are supported are Booker, Erply, Leaf, Leapset, Micros, NCR, PayPal Here, Revel, ShopKeep, TouchBistro and Vend but more are expected to crop up as 100 developers are poised to get the dongle and API early. The PayPal Beacon is expected to become wide-spread starting Q4 of this year.
PayPal’s Beacon will be able to automatically recognize you when you walk into a store, cafe, etc. and get payments without so much as you unlocking your phone to open the PayPal app. Future use sees you pre-setting your favorite meals, coffee combo or store goods and them being automatically transferred to the Beacon when you walk in.
And in case you’re wondering about security you can always request a prompt when the Beacon acquires you, when a payment is required or select which stores can see you.
Here are a couple of videos explaining the concept behind the PayPal Beacon:
The second video gives you a really cool glimpse of what we can expect in terms of functionality.
The only thing worrying me after a glance on those videos is about the physical security of these payments. What if someone steals your phone? Would they be able to shop around with it until you realize it’s been stolen?
Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com
No comments:
Post a Comment