What Does A Future Digital Wallet Look Like?
Payments made with smartwatches and fitness trackers are on the rise following Fitbit’s first smartwatch that can make payments.
Contactless card payments have become one of the most common ways to make a payment, just 10 years after their launch, but a digital wallet remains the ambition of many tech companies.
Digital payments are likely to grow in popularity just as quickly, taking over contactless card payments in the near future.
Payments With Fitness Trackers And Smartwatches
Near-field communication (NFC) technology is what makes contactless payments possible, either with debit and credit cards or smartphones.
This technology has been applied to smartwatches, notably Apple Pay, making payments from your digital pocket even easier and more convenient as you can just swipe the device that’s round your wrist to make payments.
Fitbit released their smartwatch in 2017, making it the first fitness tracker capable of making payments.
The downside is that the technology is waiting on banks to support it, which is holding people back from making payments with their fitness trackers.
Once the banks are on board it’s expected that this technology will soar.
Trading Via Smartwatches
The Internet of Things is expanding its applications in the wearables market, including finances.
Much of this has been through smartphones and tablets, but the technology is getting more advanced and powerful and the cost is coming down.
Smartwatches can currently be used to receive updates and notifications for any trading markets that you want to monitor by connecting to your smartphone.
It’s predicted that as smartwatches develop to have more features that you’ll be able to do more with your smartwatch, such as make investments and sell your stock.
Needless to say, one can also use smart tech to save money as you have the option to receive alerts about the latest discounts and coupon deals.
Vibration or text reading could also become a desirable feature, all of which will increase trust, and therefore usage of watches and trackers for finances.
Security Of Wearable Tech And Your Money
One of the biggest drawbacks of managing your money with wearable devices is that it takes time for people to understand and trust the technology behind it, as was the case with contactless card payments when they were first launched.
However, they are now considered one of the safest ways to make a payment and, according to the UK Cards Association, £3.3 billion worth of contactless card transactions are made every month in the UK.
Safety concerns for making payments and trading with smartwatches and fitness trackers are largely down to their small screens, thus lack of clarity, compared to a smartphone.
Wearable tech for payments is considered some of the safest ways to make payments, but it takes time for people to adjust and trust it.
Smartwatches and fitness trackers with NFC are set to path the way for a complete digital wallet.
It’s likely that the technology will grow and be adopted as quickly as contactless card payments took over, providing the banks with the new methods.
Developments in the tech also mean increased ease-of-use, more features and capabilities, particularly for trading and managing money.