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.
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.
Wdewind, I'm sorry you found the website misleading. Our research indicates that a large majority of smartphone users carry their phone with them when they are shopping (and virtually everywhere else they go outside the home). For these users, Echo can replace all the rest of their payment cards.
We hoped that between the FAQ section and the How section, the fact that Echo can only hold three cards at a time was made clearly enough. Perhaps it was not.
Thanks for the feedback. We'll consider ways of clarifying this point on our website.
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.
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.
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.
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!
This is blatantly misleading. Protean users carry 1 card AND AN IPHONE. The card only stores 3 at a time. :/