So far, you may have been heard about Smart Phones, Smart Watches, Smart Activity Trackers, Smart Light Bulbs, Smart Homes and the list goes on. Apparently there is this trend to make everything smart. Whether that makes us 'Smart', is debatable.
There is new addition to list called "Smart Payment Cards" or simply "Smart Cards". The idea, I think, evolved based on "Smart Wallets" services offered by mobile companies. Think of Apple's Passport application, Samsung Wallet. So we want to cut down the bulk on our traditional wallets with zillions of Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Loyalty Card etc.
To achieve this feat, Apple launched Apple Pay, Samsung launched Samsung Pay (for which, it bought a company called Loop Pay. I was one of the earliest adapters of Loop Pay devices). There is Android Pay offered by Android/Google where Google split Google Wallet application to make room for Android Pay.
The problem with coin is, it only mimics the magnetic strip data to the selected card so you can pay using simple card swipe or you can use NFC radio on the terminal that support touch & pay NFC payments. But after the introduction of EMV payment standard with Chip n' Pin in October last year, if your card has a chip and you swipe the Coin card with that card selected, the payment terminal will ask you to insert the chip into the terminal, which you can't do because, well, it does not have a chip.
EMV Chip n' Pay is an old thing in EU and Asia, but a new thing in the US. Most of the merchants have replaced their old swipe-only payment terminals with the new Chip n' Pay terminals.
So in short, Coin does not work everywhere.
There is new addition to list called "Smart Payment Cards" or simply "Smart Cards". The idea, I think, evolved based on "Smart Wallets" services offered by mobile companies. Think of Apple's Passport application, Samsung Wallet. So we want to cut down the bulk on our traditional wallets with zillions of Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Loyalty Card etc.
To achieve this feat, Apple launched Apple Pay, Samsung launched Samsung Pay (for which, it bought a company called Loop Pay. I was one of the earliest adapters of Loop Pay devices). There is Android Pay offered by Android/Google where Google split Google Wallet application to make room for Android Pay.
Coin
Working on these lines, another startup called Coin came with a universal credit card idea to hold all your card in one card (technically that is a device). It works on BLE which connects to your smart phone and syncs the card data through a companion app. Once you load all your cards on the app, you can sync any 8 cards to the Coin card. There is an e-ink display to show which card is selected on the Coin card, a battery that runs two years, so you don't have to charge it, an NFC radio for NFC payments, a Bluetooth radio to connect with your smart phone.The problem with coin is, it only mimics the magnetic strip data to the selected card so you can pay using simple card swipe or you can use NFC radio on the terminal that support touch & pay NFC payments. But after the introduction of EMV payment standard with Chip n' Pin in October last year, if your card has a chip and you swipe the Coin card with that card selected, the payment terminal will ask you to insert the chip into the terminal, which you can't do because, well, it does not have a chip.
EMV Chip n' Pay is an old thing in EU and Asia, but a new thing in the US. Most of the merchants have replaced their old swipe-only payment terminals with the new Chip n' Pay terminals.
So in short, Coin does not work everywhere.
Plastc
Now comes Plastc, to take care of the problems Coin is facing. It has rechargeable battery (charges wirelessly and runs about a month on single charge), an e-ink touch screen display to select and show the card information, Bluetooth radio to connect to your smartphone and most importantly a Chip to mimic the Chip of your actual card.
How well it performs, remains a question until we can get our hands on the device/card when it starts shipping (End of April 2016 as their website says).
Just in case, you want to preorder, here is a link you can use to get $20 off.
