Harmar-based Characteristics debuts cellular-connected credit card at CES

LAS VEGAS– It looks like every new technology is linked.

From shoes to tooth brushes to wine cellar and pet food bowls, it all can connect over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or cellular service.

Now your credit card can too.

Characteristics Inc., a payment innovation business locateded in Harmar, revealed a charge card Monday at CES in Las Vegas that comes loaded with a cellphone chip, antenna, battery and almost 200 other parts.

The single card can keep the info of numerous cards, like credit and debit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards, transit cards and even hotel space crucial cards. Banks and other suppliers can interact directly with the card, sending out users information about low balances and upcoming promos or wanting them a happy birthday and giving them a present.

The card has a battery that uses motion to charge instantly and a 64,000-pixel display to show messages. It’s versatile. It’s water resistant. And all this innovation suits a normal-sized credit card that customers utilize the very same way they would use other cards.

“They do not do anything however swipe, insert or tap the very same card they have actually been utilizing,” Dynamics founder and CEO Jeff Mullen stated during a president at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Users can change cards with the push of a button developed into the card. The little screen displays info like names, card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV numbers. It reveal QR codes to be used as vouchers or presents, Mullen said.

There are about 20 billion payment cards utilized worldwide. Wallet Card could alter the entire industry, Mullen stated.

Mullen expects to partner with banks to offer the card in the United States later this year. On Monday, Mullen revealed partnerships with banks in the Middle East, Asia, India and Canada.

“This is a few of the very best innovation that we have actually ever seen,” said Todd Roberts, senior vice president of payments and innovations at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. “It has to do with having a card that is no longer a dull piece of plastic but a clever piece of plastic.”

Dynamic’s Wallet Card won the 2018 CES Best of Innovation award for security technology and was bestowed awards in computers, embedded innovation and technology for a better world.

The connection of the card makes it possible for banks to instantly change account info when fraud or a security breach is spotted, Mullen said. A brand-new card number and info is sent directly to the card, allowing undisturbed usage. Mullen said Characteristics utilizes security steps beyond market standards to ensure the interaction is protected.

Dynamics revealed Monday that it will put the Wallet Card on Sprint’s cellular network. Mullen stated that the preliminary banks utilizing the card will not charge customers additional for them and users won’t have to pay to utilize the cellular network.

Characteristics spent five years working on Wallet Card. The company customized made every element. There are 60 various products in the card.

Characteristics has a nine-acre head office in Cheswick and uses about 100 people. Dynamics was founded about 10 years ago and has actually raised $110 million in financing. In 2014, the company raised $70 million in a funding round led by MasterCard.

Mullen wasn’t fretted about the pattern toward mobile payments. Using a cellphone or a smartwatch to pay for things forced individuals to alter their habits. Individuals are used to paying with credit cards and don’t desire to alter, Mullen said.

“The truth is that mobile payments have actually not worked, anywhere,” Mullen stated. “The card will be pertinent for years.”

Aaron Aupperlee/Tribune-Review Jeff Mullen, founder and CEO of Characteristics Inc., holds the brand-new Wallet Card, which the business debuted Monday, Jan. 8, 2017, at CES in Las Vegas.