Clinkle Wants To Become Your Wallet 121
vikingpower writes "Clinkle, a new mobile payments start-up, may or may not have succeeded where so many other efforts have fizzled by inventing a practical way to replace credit cards with smartphones. It's hard to say, though, since Clinkle won't say much about how its system works. Its website is, well ... slight. But a prominent group of Silicon Valley investors who do know what Clinkle is cooking up are acting as though it has achieved a breakthrough. On Thursday, Clinkle announced that it had raised $25 million in early financing from Accel Partners; Andreessen Horowitz; Intel; Intuit; Marc Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce.com; Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal; and a long list of other investors with technology industry pedigrees. The Huffington Post has an article on Clinkle, or rather on Stanford students putting their degree on hold to go work at Clinkle. The Wall Street Journal [paywalled] mentions Clinkle having some 30-odd employees already."
Easter Egg (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I love that somebody both figured this out AND got first post.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Direct Withdrawal (Score:4, Insightful)
"Creates a direct connection between your wallet and our bank account."
Re:Direct Withdrawal (Score:4, Insightful)
so you can out of your funds for the time it takes to fix an error.
also hackers will love this.
Re: (Score:3)
Sometimes I wonder if they intentionally make this type of Tech just so Hackers can take advantage; and the company can get free advertisement. You know what they say, even bad advertisement is good advertisement. The sad part is people will buy this, just as sure as people building houses on unstable cliffs.
Re: (Score:2)
"Creates a direct connection between your wallet and our bank account."
Have the banksters signed off on this? What about service fees, interest, taxes, greed and corruption?
But I just got in to Simple! (Score:3)
Re:But I just got in to Simple! (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem here as I see it is that too many companies are fighting for this space, using illegal tactics.
For instance, even though my phone is capable of using Google Wallet, it won't work on the device because AT&T somehow gets a veto over using the app on my phone. Its all just data, encrypted and secured data, so why do carriers get to block this app? How is that not illegal restraint of trade?
I don't expect it to be any different with Clinkle. Too many players standing in the way.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
For instance, even though my phone is capable of using Google Wallet, it won't work on the device because AT&T somehow gets a veto over using the app on my phone. Its all just data, encrypted and secured data, so why do carriers get to block this app? How is that not illegal restraint of trade?
In the early 1980's, major players in the American banking system invested heavily in the phone system. It was the reason the banks didn't replace the easily duplicated magnetic stripe card with the better security offered by the chip and pin process implemented in Europe at that time (which sadly was 40 years ago). We became a back water country with this technology do to corporate priorities. I see a reason for the problem you described if those type of investment relationships still exists today between
Re: (Score:3)
The grass always does seem greener doesn't it? In reality here in Europe and chip and pin has only been implemented for a decade or so and in most countries paying with the magnetic stripe has only been retired about a year ago.
Re: (Score:2)
The grass always does seem greener doesn't it? In reality here in Europe and chip and pin has only been implemented for a decade or so and in most countries paying with the magnetic stripe has only been retired about a year ago.
take a trip to usa and pay by magnetic stripe and write a confirmation signature with a stylus while nobody is watching and walk out of the shop(self service paying). it's like a trip to a parallel stupid high tech land.
Re: (Score:2)
It's all about money.
Re: (Score:2)
And unless there is interoperability between all of them this scheme will not take off, but your average business rather kills off the competition to get the whole tiny pie instead of working together so each can take a piece of a huge global pie.
VC =/= people who know anything (Score:1)
Oh boy, wow! Some guys managed to give a powerpoint presentation about releveraging cross-platform web enabled responsive 3.0 paradigms, and some students want to get rich quick, and they made a web page with far too much javascript that seems to be trying to implement some bullshit marketting strategy.
Tell me when they have a product ready. Or better yet, don't, because I'm not going to use it anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Andreessen Horowitz doesn't fuck around.
Re: (Score:1)
If investing in Groupon isn't fucking around, then I don't know what the words "fucking around" mean.
Do not want (Score:4, Funny)
No room for a condom.
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah, and with this somebody's gonna need one. Can anyone say 'pump and dump'?
Re: (Score:2)
30-odd employees (Score:4, Insightful)
The Wall Street Journal mentions Clinkle having some 30-odd employees already.
But how many normal employees do they have?
And why exactly would I want a product where I have to provide my own terminal to run their code and use my own capped data to support their service? Can't imagine any benefit to the actual consumer over just using my plastic card.
Re: (Score:2)
And why exactly would I want a product where I have to provide my own terminal to run their code and use my own capped data to support their service? Can't imagine any benefit to the actual consumer over just using my plastic card.
Excuse me for asking, but what part of a cellphone or smartphone does NOT require you to supply your own terminal to run someone else's code and pay for your own bandwidth?
Come to think of it, it seems pretty clear that you didn't MAIL IN your post above, so you must have used your own terminal running Slashdot's javascript on your own bandwidth just to read and post here.
So why get so up in arms about this?
I would love not having to carry a wallet full of credit cards to get stolen, or even peeked at, and
Re: (Score:2)
It is expensive these days with all the interlocks and digital keying used in cars.
I actually have no car keys. Just a fob. So this would be a major modification.
And the fob's functionality of could just as well be programmed into my phone, if the phone battery lasted longer.
Re: (Score:2)
Excuse me for asking, but what part of a cellphone or smartphone does NOT require you to supply your own terminal to run someone else's code and pay for your own bandwidth?
No part of my cell phone requires me to run anyone's code or to transfer someone's data. As matter of fact, my phone is not capable of running 3rd party code, and the data services (and SMS) on this account were blocked by AT&T by my request, from day zero, as a non-negotiable condition of purchase. I have no use for data on my cel
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
The additional benefit is to force credit card companies to provide the additional biometric data to confirm the identity of the user and end the lie of identity theft. Identity theft, is fraudulently applied charges by outlets against a person credit card, until such time as those outlets can prove they were defrauded. The lie of identity theft is used by credit card companies to criminally force the liability onto the card holder and not onto the credit card company and the outlets that make use of those
Re: (Score:2)
Huh? Credit cards don't force anything onto the card holder, they take the money from the merchant and reimburse the cardholder without questions. In fact, they'll almost certainly catch the transaction before it's finalized. Now merchants hate the arrangement but it's golden for customers.
You do not, by the way, get this with debit cards or most any other form of payment. Amusingly one of the problems with biometric protection is that it's assumed to be perfect so when it exists the blame is moved to the c
Re: (Score:2)
In fact, they'll almost certainly catch the transaction before it's finalized.
I totally agree with this sentiment. Actually my bank has a an oversensitive heuristic. On about 10% of all internet transactions I need to call up the bank for them to authorize the payment. And I know I got a good bank, when I can do that at 3 a.m. on a Sunday.
Free bonus uncloseable full page ad! (Score:2)
If you're using a mobile browser, be aware that the linked article will spawn a full-screen ad whose "close" button does not appear to consistently work on a touch device.
But back to the story... Okay, so a e-wallet startup got some venture capital. Why is this news, exactly?
Re: (Score:2)
But back to the story... Okay, so a e-wallet startup got some venture capital. Why is this news, exactly?
Probably because it has been paid for. So much for the "news".
Nice Idea (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I would only start to be comfortable with this if they licensed their software to banks and let banks keep the records.
The scenario you describe has a gaping privacy hole in that Clinkle will have records of all your purchases. One national security letter or weakly anonymized marketing datbase sale later, and you're screwed.
Banks, at least, already have this information, so we're no worse off; and, banking as a whole is more strongly regulated than valley startups.
Re: (Score:2)
The scenario you describe has a gaping privacy hole in that Clinkle will have records of all your purchases. One national security letter or weakly anonymized marketing database sale later, and you're screwed.
Same for Visa and MasterCard. Unless you pay in cash money, you have already bought into having your dinner purchase somewhat public. Your bank, your restaurant's bank, your credit card company, and your restaurant's credit card clearing company all know this information and any Local Police Department can get all of that information on a whim, and the US government gets every single bit of it every single day of the year for every single citizen.
So your tin foil hat better be lined in 100 dollar bills, be
Re: (Score:2)
Let's not forget the ever present 'loyalty cards' that stores want you to use when you pay. This is simply a primary key into a juicy database full of everything you buy from every store and every form of retail outlet they have.
Over here in Aus they generally entice you with a tiny discount off your petrol when you spend or some flybuy points that you will never get enough of to actually fly anywhere on. The major supermarket chains also own most of the petrol stations, the liquor stores and god knows what
Re:Nice Idea (Score:5, Insightful)
You go to restaurant. Get receipt. Create a one-off closed account with user ID and one-off GUID with exactly the amount of receipt+tip transferred from your actual bank account. Unlike with a card, you just hand the server the user ID+GUID. They never know your full name and credit card number.
Or, if you are not one of those thirty "odd employees," you just pay with cash. Or you use a temporary c/c number with limited funds - many banks offer this service for free. Or you walk with the server to the payment terminal. There are several ways to pay that do not involve a third party.
This whole thing is designed to appeal to geeks who enjoy fiddling with computers. However everyone else will find it bothersome. It is just another step where you can make a mistake. All those eWallet companies are solving a problem that does not exist for the vast majority of people - and even to some geeks. I, personally, have no need of that service. I also have no desire to include another set of crooks into the payment chain.
I'm sure Clinkle's service is more open so that restaurants/etc. don't have to buy new hardware/software; it's probably only a fraction safer than actually giving your plastic card.
Where would these numbers go that a patron hands over to the server? Do they just type it into a browser, in a place where thousands of patrons and workers come and go every single day? It only takes a record in the HOSTS file, and a self-signed certificate, to impersonate the service. Businesses pay for secure terminals because they are secure. A mere computer in a corner cannot be called secure, if all it takes to compromise is to insert a USB stick and run a script.
Re: (Score:1)
MS Security Essentials monitor the HOSTS file. However if you have physical access to the console you can always configure an exception. (I did, because I always have custom HOSTS files, because I have no DNS server on the LAN. (I have a couple of BBBs now to make one of them into a proper DNS server, but I still need to find time for that :-))
Re: (Score:2)
the problem with the proposal that you've created is that if the phone is hacked then any number of one-off closed accounts can be created and transferred from your "actual bank account". what this tells us is that the actual problem is the concept of trying to use a general-purpose processor which is capable of running unverifiably-complex general-purpose software as a method of payment. it.... just.... doesn't.... add... up.
Alternatively... (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what else works just as well as a credit card that is way smaller and lighter than a cell phone, never needs recharging, works literally everywhere and already has proven, well-established limited liability for theft? A fucking credit card.
Oh, and nice analysis editor:
Clinkle, a new mobile payments start-up, may or may not have succeeded ...
Costly... (Score:2)
The credit card model has a fairly high cost of risk mitigation.
Fundamentally, you are throwing around what in any sane world would be the most secret of secrets. To hack around that reality, financial institutions bear non-trivial amounts of risk and have to do a lot to do analytics to try to detect fraud. Even with all that, the cardholder must be always vigilant as their circumstance could fall through the cracks.
I've long been amazed that my email provider offers me more rigorous prevention of unautho
Maybe Costly... but not to me (Score:2)
The problem with credit cards is... (Score:4, Informative)
...they are bloody expensive! The consumer doesn't see most of this, but the merchants pay through the nose. A typical small business will pay around 3% of the total transaction to the credit card company, plus additional fees for payment processing, plus additional fees for certifications, plus...there's always another damned fee.
That could well represent the entire profit margin of a smaller business. Guess what, that means those costs are added into the price. Since most credit card contracts (at least in my country) explicitly prohibit giving a "cash discount" or anything else that would be to the disadvantage of credit card purchases, this means that there is no way out: everyone must pay the higher prices.
It's quite a racket, if you think about it: 3% of the top of a huge chunk of all consumer transactions. I dream of seeing some real competition in the payment processing market.
Re:The problem with credit cards is... (Score:4)
It's quite a racket, if you think about it: 3% of the top of a huge chunk of all consumer transactions.
How much are you spending on your c/c per year? Let's say $20K. This is a large sum of money, fit for a family guy with several children. (I don't spend that much.) 2% of that (often you get 1% back) would be $400.
Would you agree to carry, count and spend $20K in cash over the year if I promise to pay you $400? You will be in danger of losing the money, of being robbed, of miscounting not in your favor, and of not having enough cash on hand. Cash is dirty, having been in hands of lowest castes of the society, and it may carry diseases. Most of US cash carries traces of drugs, and that can attract attention of police dogs; the police will then be happy to tear your car apart.
The banks may be charging too much for the service; but from the POV of the consumer, the convenience is worth the cost. Is it a nice racket for the banks? Probably yes, it is. They inserted themselves into the payment chain, and it's all but impossible to extract them out of there.
The many eWallet providers (that always come and go) are not aiming for saving the world from the onerous 3%. They are aiming to collect those 3%. The world will be still paying the payment tax, one way or another. Those companies are not saviors; they are just the new generation of thieves who are trying to replace the prededing generation of thieves.
Re: (Score:2)
The many eWallet providers (that always come and go) are not aiming for saving the world from the onerous 3%. They are aiming to collect those 3%. The world will be still paying the payment tax, one way or another. Those companies are not saviors; they are just the new generation of thieves who are trying to replace the prededing generation of thieves.
This is the thing that annoys me most about the whole thing. I don't want any of them.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Cash is dirty, having been in hands of lowest castes of the society, and it may carry diseases.
What the fuck? Did you just actually say that? What sort of bullshit is this? Are you a time traveler from India circa 1840, or are you just a ignorant, bigoted prick?
Re: (Score:2)
It's quite a racket, if you think about it: 3% of the top of a huge chunk of all consumer transactions. I dream of seeing some real competition in the payment processing market.
I'm sure this will have essentially the same fee structure and profit models as standard credit cards. The best long term hope for true competition payment processing is Bitcoin. With a mostly voluntary transaction fee of about $0.01 on any transaction including those across borders, it is secure, pseudo-anonymous, non-reversible, and there is no bank or government to deny access or confiscate funds. With greater adoption values should rise significantly with diminishing volatility until eventually a slo
Re: (Score:3)
Reportedly, miners are already configuring their systems to drop transactions that do not bring revenue. Days of BTC mining just for fun, done by a few nerds and a computer, are gone. Today you need to have an ASIC miner to keep up - and as soon as the network becomes faster, the difficulty level goes up, and the number of still available bitcoins continues to drop. Why would a miner mine anything say, ten years from now, when he needs a quantum computer (at a mere $10M price tag) to even get started? The
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Cash.
Plus, you have the benefit of not having your purchases become part of a massive database to be misused by powerful and evil forces.
I'd like to see some innovations in payment methods that still leave the shopper with a little bit of privacy protection.
Re: (Score:2)
Cash.
Plus, you have the benefit of not having your purchases become part of a massive database to be misused by powerful and evil forces.
I'd like to see some innovations in payment methods that still leave the shopper with a little bit of privacy protection.
Granted. However, I use my no-fee CC for most purchases and pay it off every month so using is like using cash but negates me having to carry/restock my wallet with much cash. I accept the privacy loss of using a CC for the additional theft protection and convenient. I'm sure Clinkle will charge comparable service fees and mine people's purchase data as well. (Shareholders gotta profit.)
Truth be told, I was more peeved about the "may or may not" in the summary. "May" implies "may not" ... grrrr :-)
Don
Re: (Score:2)
However, I use my no-fee CC for most purchases and pay it off every month so using is like using cash but negates me having to carry/restock my wallet with much cash. I accept the privacy loss of using a CC for the additional theft protection and convenient.
By using C/C you also are creating plausible deniability for your other purchases that you may not want to become known. Your spending pattern will remain the same, of an innocent person. You go to the same grocery stores, you buy gas at the same sta
Re: (Score:1)
You know who else pays in cash? Terrorists. :/
Re: (Score:2)
You know what else works just as well as a credit card that is way smaller and lighter than a cell phone, never needs recharging, works literally everywhere and already has proven, well-established limited liability for theft? A fucking credit card.
We live in an age, where people are so addicted to their smartphones, that everything needs done with a smartphone in their eyes.
The whole premise is silly, because most people assume that everyone only has one credit card. I have 4, and have my finances categorized. One card for gasoline, one for general household, one for house related purchases, and one for general living - meals, hotels, business expenses. I can't imagine that is all that rare.
So when I pull out my wallet and pick the card I want t
Go to Hell, Clinkle (Score:5, Insightful)
Next thing, they demand I upgrade my browser. That's my business; it's their business to design their website to use HTML standards.
Do these jerks seriously expect people to sign on after a start like that?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I cannot just browse their site without them demanding my email?
The catch is they don't even have a web site yet. Just a steadily growing mailing list that they'll send out progress reports to until they get a working product. Why on earth anyone would ever sign up for one, I have no idea. But that's what it is.
Next thing, they demand I upgrade my browser. That's my business; it's their business to design their website to use HTML standards.
It's part of the Silicon Valley startup douchebag mindset. They're innovators. They're moving forward. They are progress. They don't want to be tied down to legacy modes and archaic systems. In other words, they have no concept of graceful fallback and only
Re: (Score:2)
It's part of the Silicon Valley startup douchebag mindset.
Or! It's part of the mindset that decides it's a better idea to stop supporting old browsers. Whatever their motive, it's their motive. Maybe they want to save money in customer service because they don't want to have to deal with someone like my dad using their product.
Are you still watching Betamax too?
Re: (Score:2)
Do these jerks seriously expect people to sign on after a start like that?
Those guys are idiots. This kind of PR is not cheap. They're spending all their newfound investment money on slashadvertisments and huffingtonadvertisements before they even made a properly functioning web site.
what's the next article? (Score:2)
what's the very next article right here on slashdot? an article about how the inventor of PGP cannot properly implement ZRTP, a security application for smart phones. clinkle - starting from scratch - on a payment system for smart phones, making it a high-profile target. this is going to end well.
Single company solution? (Score:2)
I don't think I ever want a payment system to be in the hands of one single company. In the Netherlands (Europe even) all banks adopted the same standard for electronic debit payments and this works fine. Credit cards are basically in the hands of two companies, MasterCard and Visa, and this sucks because they behave as monopolists.
IMHO an electronic payment system can only starts as a co-operation between many banks/governments or... bottom up, with some open specification invented by people like you.
re Already done (Score:3)
Sorry for the link in Spanish, but one of the banks [banorte.com] I use in Mexico already offers an option to pay using my celular instead of my debit/credit card. (Clic on Pago Movil)
I can go to many stores (20,000 according to the bank) and simply clic on an app and the bill is settled electronically.
Another example is token authentication, which is used by all banks for Internet banking in Mexico but is rare (o was until about a year ago) in the US.
Why are U.S. banks so backward?
Re: (Score:2)
From the CEO's blog post about the product it sounds like this is just an idea he got from what they're already doing in Europe.
I'm surprised anyone invested in this. Though raising $25m for a Stanford student only takes an e-mail sign up page these days.
Re: (Score:2)
Not with that name (Score:2)
I'm not using 'Clinkle' any more than I was willing to use 'Beenz'.
$25 million raised? (Score:2)
It's a phone-based credit company with technology that nearly no one understands, and it's quickly raised $25 million. Why does that sound suspicious? Is that charged to Andreessen's phone bill alone? I hope some of it doesn't appear on my elderly mom's phone bill next month.
A solution in search of a problem (Score:2, Informative)
Server comes to my table with a wireless credit card machine, swipes it in front of me and hands me back my card. I review the amount and scribble a signature.
Easy as can be
Many places don't even require the signature any longer
My bank handles any fraudulent charges on my behalf, no risk to me
Contrast that to other payment systems, like PayPal, where your money is taken by PayPal and not returned for 6 months. Or a fraudulent use requires jumping through multiple hoops to try to get your money back. Ever
why? (Score:3)
why would anyone want to replace their credit card with their mobile phone, anyway?
what problem does it solve? what benefit does it give?
there are numerous security and privacy reasons why this is a bad idea but I can't think of even one reason why anyone would want it, or why it might be a good - or even useful - idea.
Heard this song before (Score:3)
Was this the brain trust that told us breathlessly that "Ginger" was going to redefine civilization?
Is there a problem? (Score:2)
Why does my wallet need replacing? It does everything I need it to, and more importantly, it allows me to control my money via more physical means. I'm fine with swiping cards. Cash is fine too. The best part about it is I don't have to give my info to another third party who is going to find ways to take my money.
PayPal could do this in a second.. (Score:2)
Deliver open API. Make a smartphone app. Add support for making "payment". Support QR.
Logic:
* Merchant makes payment entry (give it description, unique id, itemized bill if wanting to, and so forth)
* App (or own system) shows QR code with data
* User scans QR code
* User gets full details of the transaction
* User click "Pay" - data gets sent to paypal, which verifies, matches unique ID, and sends confirmation to merchant system.
* Merchant screen shows "Payment O
How does it feel to want? (Score:2)
No (Score:1)
WiFi/Bluetooth enabled Credit Card? (Score:1)
#anyone# wanting to become my wallet ... (Score:2)
Whatever happened to that thing called cash, by the way? I seem to be using it more and more, and my plastic less and less these days. not that I ever used plastic for more than about 15% of my expenditure.
Its bitcoin (Score:1)