Protean Echo: Fuse all your cards into one for $80

http://www.getprotean.com/

by kposehn • 14 years ago

11 16 14 years ago

getprotean.com

Zenst2• 14 years ago

What is that phrase about putting all your egg's into one basket again!

If I wanted to combine all my credit cards into one easy nickable device I'd do it with a NFC mobile phone.

ktsmith• 14 years ago

At least my NFC mobile phone has remote wipe.

Zenst2• 14 years ago

Exactly and easier to report stolen as well.

Cbartenstein5• 14 years ago

Zenst, our product is extremely secure. All card holder information is actually stored in secure memory on the card (Echo) itself, not on the phone or app. By default, Echo locks when out of range of your phone's Bluetooth (and can be unlocked by entering a pin code on echo, enabling you to use Echo without your phone). So, even if you lose Echo or phone, your card info will not be vulnerable to theft.

mentat2• 14 years ago

The anti-fraud aspects of a card are usually checked as well by cashiers at least. I'm not sure this would be accepted.

Cbartenstein5• 14 years ago

We are confident most merchants will accept Echo at the POS. Echo will be laser engraved with the cardholder’s name, will display a CVV code in E-Ink, and will be signed just like any other card. Today, merchants are increasingly used to seeing unusual looking cards, such as the Chase Sapphire (https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/chase-sapphire.as...) and Amex's titanium Centurion card.

mentat2• 14 years ago

Interesting. It looks like a useful product for sure...

Pirate-of-SV• 14 years ago

Cool, but the solution to this problem is not another card.

Cbartenstein5• 14 years ago

We're very excited about NFC and mobile payment. We feel, however, that mobile payment is not yet ready for prime time. A small fraction of current smart phones are NFC enabled, and an even smaller fraction of merchants and retailers have upgraded to terminals capable of accepting NFC payment. Echo is compatible with existing swipe terminals and therefor enables Americans to begin taking advantage mobile payment/wallet technologies today!

fuzzythinker• 14 years ago

Nice, icache.com 's solution is bulkier and pricier.

josh33• 14 years ago

This looks like a good solution if you have limited wallet space like in the twelve-south book book case for iPhone.

wdewind2• 14 years ago

http://www.getprotean.com/images/infographic3.jpg

This is blatantly misleading. Protean users carry 1 card AND AN IPHONE. The card only stores 3 at a time. :/

Cbartenstein5• 14 years ago

Echo may be used with or without a phone. When you are without your phone, you can use any one of the three cards already loaded on Echo. When you have your phone (iPhone or Android) with you, you can set Echo to mimic any mag-stripe card in your wallet with a couple taps of your phone.

wdewind2• 14 years ago

That graphic implies that the Echo replaces 6, 10 or an infinite number of cards, but does not make clear that it is only three at a time and that the rest are loaded onto the phone. When you say "Echo users carry 1 card" in comparison to the first two examples, you are implying a parity for which I can compare the three: I am likely the average American with 6 cards or even possibly in the 13% that have 10+ credit cards. For both of those groups the card would need to be used in conjunction with a phone in order to get the same benefits as 6 or 10+ cards, but that is not illustrated in anyway. This is misleading.

Cbartenstein5• 14 years ago

Hi guys,

As Co-founder and COO at Protean, I wanted to thank each of you for sharing your thoughts on Echo. I tried to clarify some things in my responses to several of your comments. Feel free to contact me any time at cbartenstein@getprotean.com with additional questions, comments or concerns regarding Echo.

Thanks again for your interest in Echo!

Protean Echo: Fuse all your cards into one for $80

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