MARK OF THE BEAST FACILITATION ALERT

By BRUCE MEYERSON, AP Business Writer Sat Jun 18, 5:27 AM ET
NEW YORK - Already a device of multiple disguises, from camera to music player and mini-TV, the cell phone's next trick may be the disappearing wallet. After all, since more than a quarter of the people on the planet already carry around cell phones, and hundreds of millions are joining them every year, why should they bring along credit and debit cards when a mobile device can make payments just as well?


At the simplest level, all that's needed is to embed phones with a short-range radio chip to beam credit card information to a terminal at a store register. It's not unlike the wireless system used to pay tolls on many highways or the SpeedPass keychain wand used to buy gas at Exxon Mobile Corp. pumps.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050618/ap_on_hi_te/wireless_wallet