Good Tech/Bad Tech: Mophie Introduces IPhone Credit Card Reader
By Chris Weiss
Scheduled to make its debut at CES later in the week, this iPhone add-on from accessory manufacturer Mophie will turn any iPhone into a mobile credit card reader. Simply swipe cards on the go and make payments without any traditional credit card reading equipment. Mophie’s device will pair a physical card reader with a third-party app to complete credit card transactions. It will join Square, a similar mobile phone credit card processing system that was introduced in beta about a month ago.
Sound good? If you’re a small business looking for a more seamless way of credit card processing, it probably does. Alternately, if you’re an identity thief looking to make your job even easier, it probably looks pretty good as well.
On the other hand, if you’re an average consumer who wants to keep his credit card account and attached information secure, this might not be the most welcome advance. These new systems appear to make swiping information from a credit card painfully easy for businesses and criminals alike. It shouldn’t take too long before every unsavory criminal and hacker is walking around with his own iPhone swiper just waiting to “process” your payment. [via Pocket-lint]
