Apple Pay Meets Its Rival In The Stratos Smartcard

The new Stratos smartcard can hold several credit and debit cards in the magnetic stripe that runs across its back portion. It can be used as a Visa and a MasterCard, but establishments will be initially understandably dubious about it since it does not have any official logos – thus, making cashiers believe that it could be a luxurious-looking scam.

Although paying with the use of a Stratos smartcard sounds good and convenient since shoppers will no longer have to bring multiple credit or debit cards, CNET has pointed out that it is actually not as seamless as paying with the use of the Apple Pay.

With Apple Pay, iPhone owners can easily hold their device near a terminal and have their fingerprints scanned to complete the charging of the purchases. Sadly, this new feature has only been added to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus as of the moment. Plus, InfoScout has determined that, while many have rejoiced at the security of Apple Pay, only six percent of today’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users have actually been using the feature, according to Digital Trends.

Stratos is actually not alone in its field. It is joined by other smartcards, namely, Swyp, Coin, and Plastc. Once these smartcards, which cost around $100, are paired with a smartphone app, users can easily access different payment cards while on the go.

Those who have already tried using smartcards liked how the device worked for them, but quite a few have still opted to pay with Apple Pay. Greg Rosen, for instance, a known investor at the New York-based venture fund, Box Group, was one of the early pre-order clients of Coin, which launched in November of 2013.

“It is kind of crazy that we are in 2015 and we are still paying with cash and plastic,” he said. “We have a computer in our pocket. It would be awesome if every single merchant took Apple Pay.”

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