PayPal on Tuesday announced PayPal Beacon, a new technology for merchants that will let consumers pay at many of their favorite stores in a hands-free manner.
“It will reinvent today’s in-store shopping experience by making it simpler, faster and richer for consumers, while providing retailers with more ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors,” PayPal says, adding that PayPal Beacon will make in-store payments easier and faster than swiping a credit card.
“PayPal Beacon opens the door to a fundamentally different way to use technology to make shopping more valuable and more personal for consumers and retailers,” says David Marcus, president of PayPal.
“We challenged ourselves to find a better experience than swiping a credit card,” he added. “We figured the only better way to pay would be to do nothing. Just walk in a store, and, like magic, when you’re ready to pay, money is transferred securely. No wallet. No card. Nothing to do. Not even touching your phone.”
So how will PayPal Beacon work exactly?
The solution will leverage Bluetooth Low Energy, which is a technology that enables connected devices to communicate with each other seamlessly, while keeping the energy consumption at a very low level.
By using BLE, transactions can take place without having to open up an app, without GPS being turned on, and even without a phone signal.
Consumers will have full control of stores they will want to check in to, those they will want to get prompted to confirm payment for, and stores they will want to enable a complete hands-free experience for, PayPal says.
To learn more, check out PayPal’s video below.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0QCRRsuqAo[/youtube]
