A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words… and a $5 Footlong Thanks to FaceCash
The developers behind an app called FaceCash have just announced that you can use it to pay for meals at Subway. Intrigued by the prospect of using my face to buy a nice turkey club, I wanted to learn more about this payment system. Apparently, FaceCash allows you to pay for items – such as a $5 footlong – without the traditional methods of writing a check, swiping a card, or throwing down some cold, hard cash. Instead, you use a picture of your face on your phone for verification purposes that the merchant will use to identify you. I’m trying to imagine the countless applicable scenarios, but I just can’t find myself getting excited for this, and I don’t see it taking off as much as FaceCash would hope.
Nabbing a nationwide food chain like Subway is a great first step toward building the platform, but is this unorthodox method of paying cash really more convenient than carrying around a piece of plastic that barely adds any weight at all? It doesn’t help that it’s only available at select subways in California, for the time being. We hope they gain some traction and grab the attention of many other partners, but for now, this one’s looking to be another throwaway. [via AG]