QR Code base system is slow, have security risk and will not work without smartphone.

Proliferation of hundred of QR Code based payments system is not a good thing, you need one that works across all countries.

Outside Visa and Mastercard, we have Amex, Diner, JCB, even China has UnionPay, but unfortunately they are not as popular as a contender of the duopoly.

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kalleboo 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

QR is not ideal but as long as Apple keeps such a tight leash on NFC payments, it's the only "open" option. It's ironic that by trying to keep NFC payments so secure, they've instead caused the wide proliferation of far less secure alternatives.

Physical card issuance is too high-friction for new entrants. It's much easier to attract new users with "just install our app" than "enter your home address and wait days for a card to arrive then put it in your wallet and remember to use it"

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wtmt 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> QR Code base system is slow, have security risk and will not work without smartphone. Proliferation of hundred of QR Code based payments system is not a good thing, you need one that works across all countries.

Agree on some security risks. But the cost of creating, printing or sharing a QR code is very low compared to NFC hardware cost and availability. I don’t know what you mean by slow, because it takes about 10 seconds to complete a transaction. QR codes are quite common in cities and towns in India because of this reason (and the other is that Apple, though a tiny player in the market, hasn’t opened up NFC completely for others to use). You can pay another person or a merchant by scanning a QR code on a cheap Android phone. You can pay for a metro or bus ticket by scanning a QR code. You’d likely see restaurants having a QR code for menus instead of paper menus, and many more.

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teyc 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

what's the security risk with QR systems? I've recently come to use one and it relies on software for both parties having connectivity.

	▲	namibj 11 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Presumably if the payer displays and the recipient scans; however that's technically solved by the POS showing the target address, amount, and bill/reference ID; the shopper then scanning, visually confirming the amount, and approving. A few seconds later the money can have arrived (depending on system): in Europe today with normal banks and their online banking apps: the QR-on-POS-screen concept using the standard SEPA instant push transaction encoding, to prompt a <10 seconds confirmed-or-aborted "Echtzeit-Überweisung" (German phrase; the standard works across some borders already though) that's polled by the recipient (to release the customer out of the store), with the obvious fallback of "guess you have to pay a different way". If for example the self-checkout terminal would just print a bill that then has to be paid by scanning a code on the bill or bringing it to a manned till or such, before the gate releases you from the area just behind the self-checkout kiosks (in response to you scanning the bill at the gate), this could absorb the online banking app friction/delays and offer a fallback of presenting the bill and a backup credit card at one of those kiosks as soon as one frees up in addition to the mentioned human-till cash payment or whatever else they do if your card suddenly misbehaves.
	▲	justsomehnguy 7 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		There are no more than using a plastic banking card. You still need to think what are you doing and what are you paying for and how much.

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gmerc 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Meanwhile all of Asia, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, India, increasingly Japan run just fine on QR.