The Mobile Payments Revolution: A Game Changer in the Making

There are about a million mobile payments apps promising to revolutionize the way I buy things, and I've tried just about all of them. Google Wallet, Level Up, Isis Square Wallet, PayPal, and others let you purchase your daily cup of coffee wirelessly over Bluetooth or NFC, but they're all kind of useless because they don't work everywhere. It's like they say, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Loop, on the other hand, is a magnetic conductor that emulates the swiping of a magnetic strip credit card at launch. It comes inside a mop-like charge case for your phone or a square plastic fob that you can hook onto a keychain or just keep in your pocket after loading your cards into the Loop app using a supplied reader. You can hold the charge Cas or fob up to a credit card reader, press a button, and the reader accepts the transaction as if you'd swipe your credit card. It's kind of amazing.

Loop transmits magnetic pulses that emulate the swiping of the max Drive cord, those are the same magnetic pulses organized the same way as the data on the max stripe, and uh the terminal reads it just like the magnetic strip. Therefore, we are compatible with any max driver reader today. Expecting the retail to change expecting a new network to arise is somewhat optimistic given the history of sales where equipment's life cycles are on the average seven years. We are not going to see a major change.

I took Loop charge case and Loop fob around town to see if terminals could read it, and of course, to see if cashiers would actually let me use it. I gave a cashier at the local Deli my fob and asked her to hold it against her credit card reader and press the button on its side. She was pretty skeptical at first but tried it and it worked. Loop worked at a bodega too, though the cashier was equally confused. It even worked in both taxi cabs I tried. What worked better, however, is that I didn't even have to convince anyone to let me touch my gadget to their credit card machine.

Both Loop devices, however, were foiled by Subway ticketing machines and ATMs that require use of a ticket card to trigger a switch which in turn reads the card. Despite this, I'm incredibly impressed by the loop technology but not by its first two form factors. The Loop fob is the more reliable of the two, but it can only transmit one card at a time, and it's more annoying to carry around than a few credit cards. The Loop charge case, on the other hand, is the more logical form factor since it also charges your phone and doesn't require you to carry around anything extra, but its build quality leaves a lot to be desired. Its plastic body feels much less sturdy than AI, and it's also fatter than AI even though it's shorter.

The Loop charge case connects to your phone using Bluetooth where you can pick which card you want to transmit at any time inside the Loop Wallet app, so it feels a bit more advanced than the fob. Neither form factor is right for me, after all aren't mobile payments about killing the wallet and limiting the crap we're carrying around? Loop most closely approximates a future where payment tech is truly integrated into our phones and works everywhere embedding this technology in a handset is very easy.

The core cost relating to the magnetic transmission is well under $1 indeed if the uh phone is already embedding wireless charging, we can reuse a lot of the components used in wireless charging. Loop shows that even when your tech works on most readers trying to rely on one mobile payment service is still too cumbersome with a big marketing push from Samsung or another top phone maker. Loop could become well known enough that I wouldn't need to explain it to every cashier I run into but for now, pretty often, I just wanted to pull out my credit card swipe and be done with it.

Even if mobile payment services are smarter, are they actually easier to use than a credit card? The answer is still no.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthere are about a million mobile payments apps promising to revolutionize the way I buy things and I've tried just about all of them Google Wallet level up Isis Square Wallet PayPal and others let you purchase your daily cup of coffee wirelessly over Bluetooth or NFC but they're all kind of useless cuz they don't work everywhere I'm Ellis hamburger with the verage and this is Loop Loop's Hardware lets you pay wirelessly at over 90% of existing credit card terminals in the US without retailers having to do anything is this the mobile payments service I've been asking for Loop is a magnetic conductor that emulates the swiping of a magnetic strip credit card at launch Loop comes inside a mopy like charge case for your phone or a square plastic fob you can hook on a keychain or just keep in your pocket after loading your cards into the loop app using a supplied reader you can hold the charge Cas or fob up to a credit card reader press a button and the reader accepts the transaction as if you'd swipe your credit card it's kind of amazing Loop transmits magnetic pulses that emulate the swiping of the max Drive cord those are the same magnetic pulses organized the same way as the data on the max stripe and uh the terminal reads it just like the magnetic strip and therefore we are compatible with any max driver reader today expecting the retail to change expecting a new network to arise is um somewhat optimistic given the history of on of sales where equipment's life cycles are on the average seven years we are not going to see a major change I took a loop charge case and loop fob around town to see if terminals could read it and of course to see if cashiers would actually let me use it I gave a cashier at the local Deli my fob and asked her to hold it against her credit card reader and press the button on its side she was pretty skeptical at first but she tried it and it worked Loop worked at a bodega too though the cashier was equally confused it even worked in both taxi cabs I tried worked better in fact since I didn't even have to convince anyone to let me touch my Gadget to their credit card machine both Loop devices however were foiled by Subway ticketing machines and ATMs that require use ticket card in to trigger a switch which in turn reads the card I'm incredibly impressed by the loop technology but not by its first two form factors the loop fob is the more reliable of the two but it can only transmit one card at a time and at nearly an inch thick it's more annoying to carry around than a few credit cards the loop charge case is the more logical form factor since it also charges your phone and doesn't require you to carry around anything extra but its build quality leaves a lot to be desired its plastic body feels much less sturdy than Ai and it's also fatter than AI even though it's shorter the charge case connects to your phone using bluetooth where you can pick which card you want to transmit at any time inside the loop Wallet app so it feels a bit more advanced than the fob neither Loop form factor is right for me after all aren't mobile payments about killing the wallet and limiting the crap you're carrying around but Loop most closely approximates a future where payment Tech is truly integrated into our phones and works everywhere embedding this technology in a handset is very easy the core cost relating to the magnetic transmission is well under $1 indeed if the uh phone is already embedding wireless charging we can reuse a lot of the components used in wireless charging Loop shows that even when your Tech works on most readers trying to rely on one mobile payment service is still too cumbersome with a big marketing push from Samsung or another top phone maker Loop could become well known enough that I wouldn't need to explain it to every cashier I run into but for now pretty often I just wanted to pull out my credit card swipe and be done with it even if Mobile payment service are smarter are they actually easier to use than a credit card the answer is still nothere are about a million mobile payments apps promising to revolutionize the way I buy things and I've tried just about all of them Google Wallet level up Isis Square Wallet PayPal and others let you purchase your daily cup of coffee wirelessly over Bluetooth or NFC but they're all kind of useless cuz they don't work everywhere I'm Ellis hamburger with the verage and this is Loop Loop's Hardware lets you pay wirelessly at over 90% of existing credit card terminals in the US without retailers having to do anything is this the mobile payments service I've been asking for Loop is a magnetic conductor that emulates the swiping of a magnetic strip credit card at launch Loop comes inside a mopy like charge case for your phone or a square plastic fob you can hook on a keychain or just keep in your pocket after loading your cards into the loop app using a supplied reader you can hold the charge Cas or fob up to a credit card reader press a button and the reader accepts the transaction as if you'd swipe your credit card it's kind of amazing Loop transmits magnetic pulses that emulate the swiping of the max Drive cord those are the same magnetic pulses organized the same way as the data on the max stripe and uh the terminal reads it just like the magnetic strip and therefore we are compatible with any max driver reader today expecting the retail to change expecting a new network to arise is um somewhat optimistic given the history of on of sales where equipment's life cycles are on the average seven years we are not going to see a major change I took a loop charge case and loop fob around town to see if terminals could read it and of course to see if cashiers would actually let me use it I gave a cashier at the local Deli my fob and asked her to hold it against her credit card reader and press the button on its side she was pretty skeptical at first but she tried it and it worked Loop worked at a bodega too though the cashier was equally confused it even worked in both taxi cabs I tried worked better in fact since I didn't even have to convince anyone to let me touch my Gadget to their credit card machine both Loop devices however were foiled by Subway ticketing machines and ATMs that require use ticket card in to trigger a switch which in turn reads the card I'm incredibly impressed by the loop technology but not by its first two form factors the loop fob is the more reliable of the two but it can only transmit one card at a time and at nearly an inch thick it's more annoying to carry around than a few credit cards the loop charge case is the more logical form factor since it also charges your phone and doesn't require you to carry around anything extra but its build quality leaves a lot to be desired its plastic body feels much less sturdy than Ai and it's also fatter than AI even though it's shorter the charge case connects to your phone using bluetooth where you can pick which card you want to transmit at any time inside the loop Wallet app so it feels a bit more advanced than the fob neither Loop form factor is right for me after all aren't mobile payments about killing the wallet and limiting the crap you're carrying around but Loop most closely approximates a future where payment Tech is truly integrated into our phones and works everywhere embedding this technology in a handset is very easy the core cost relating to the magnetic transmission is well under $1 indeed if the uh phone is already embedding wireless charging we can reuse a lot of the components used in wireless charging Loop shows that even when your Tech works on most readers trying to rely on one mobile payment service is still too cumbersome with a big marketing push from Samsung or another top phone maker Loop could become well known enough that I wouldn't need to explain it to every cashier I run into but for now pretty often I just wanted to pull out my credit card swipe and be done with it even if Mobile payment service are smarter are they actually easier to use than a credit card the answer is still no\n"