While in Strasbourg, I spotted this strange little terminal in a store near my hotel. It’s one of the few testing units for a “new” way of paying: with one’s cellphone.
In Japan, such things are quite common. Operators such as DoCoMo have been offering this service for some years.
In Europe, e-payments took a while to take root. Experiments such as Moneo in France have been failures, on accounts of wariness from the consummer basis and difficulty of use.
Moneo was supposed to revolutionise the way people pay for small sums and eliminate a long queue at, say, the baker’s, when in effect, it only made things worse and cost more on the long run.
Besides, nothing seems to beat a fistful of coins in good ole Europe.
However, with an ever-increasing percentage of the population equipped with mobile phones, paying by phone seems to be the way to go. Payments can be made by people equipped with compatible mobile phones, which are being rolled out slowly by the constructors. The system is being currently tested in a few shops in Strasbourg in a partnership between Credit Mutuel bank, CIC, phone constructors SAGEM and the mobile operator SFR.
While you’re at it, check out the store where I found this, which has some pretty fun household items.
Seen at:
Déco & Co
7 rue des Bouchers
67000 Strasbourg
deco-and-co@aliceadsl.fr
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