Orange rolls into the banking business Orange is the latest mobile operator to get into the banking business, launching a co-branded Barclaycard with a wireless slant. The two companies announced they would be working on a wireless payment system back in March last year, and it seemed that payments by mobile phone would be the obvious result. But apparently the …
... except that it isn't. NFC/RFID is a bad idea for sensitive stuff like banking, and I honestly don't see why I should go on to tacky loyalty/branded versions of crippled payment systems that seek to replace useful and functional (if so far non-electronic) systems with reasonable trust models behind them (CCs don't count in that respect) that are being killed with prejudice as ``too expensive'' by the banks. Can we focus on customer wishes here, please?
Oh right, the consumer is not the customer. How silly of me.
I received one of the Barclaycards with the Oyster built in last year.
For a couple of minutes I was actually quite impressed by the level of integration (and data mining potential) they had achieved.
Then after reading between the lines of the enclosed spin, I realised that it was no more integrated than me gluing my existing Oyster card to the back of an old credit card. I still had to go to the Oyster site and set up the auto top up by entering my credit card number.
So went happily back to using my same old Oyster (never registered, always topped up with cash). I don't mind them collecting anonymous travel data, I'm just prefer to make sure it is anonymous.
Another b****y card with NFC functionality so you can buy a banana without entering a pin. Alternatively the card can whore itself about to anyone who asks politely. This is why mine's in a screened enclosure to cut down this over friendly behaviour. Will they ever learn about security?
Orange are about the last company I want involved in my finances. I'm still trying to get them to sort out a mistake they made 2.5 years ago. My bank's phone service is nothing other then professional and helpful and their systems are reliable and well-designed. When problems do occur their staff are able to fix issues easily.
Orange are not like that. Their systems are useless and apparently unstoppable, and their staff are not allowed to help in any way. Their fraud department are so stupid I was told they are unable to answer a phone and I would have to fax them instead. Orange can't bill a mobile phone reliably let alone manage a credit card.
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