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Comment by kube-system | Hacker News Reader

I can’t tap my PC to buy a burrito at Chipotle.

So you pay more money and also give up your privacy for what you could pay cash for. I don't think you're the target market for this phone.

I pay less money for my burrito than I would with cash, but the reason I use my phone is convenience, not cost.

> I don't think you're the target market for this phone.

My comment is downstream of the entertaining of a possibility of:

> a significant user base that runs alternative operating systems

... which isn't going to happen if you ask your users to give up commonly used features. It will forever be a niche project, at best.

And there are still folks who don't use ad blockers.

This sounds like a challenge to me.

It’s actually super easy and not a challenge. The lowest tech way to do it would be the tape a cc with tap functionality to the inside of a laptop.

what a phenomenal comment, thank you for the laugh

I took "tap to pay" being clicking on Order in an app; and I have certainly made a "online order" from inside the Chipotle, on their wifi with my laptop (usually because walking to the counter would cost more because of stupid promotions).

It makes more sense that they're referring to Apple Pay or similar shenanigans (which itself is more annoying than a credit card, to be honest, Face ID goes wrong or the double click closes the wallet app instead of authenticating way too many times, especially if you're trying to do it one-handed).

I can tap my debit card to buy a burrito, no apps required on my end.

You seem to be part of the problem. As long as people like you are happy to run spyware on their phones for the sake of convenience or a meager discount, companies will be empowered to make such software and devices a requirement.

Do you think the same for using credit cards in general or is using the phone somehow worse?

I use cash whenever possible, but carrying cash for larger transactions has its own risks and those risks need to be balanced against the privacy benefits it offers. The way I see it, carrying a credit card in addition to my phone when I might need it is a minor inconvenience relative to that of allowing Google complete control over my phone.

Credit cards have become mainly a way for the banks and visa/mc to use the customer to strong arm money out of the business.

Get 3% and rebate some to the customer. For the convenience.

It’s kind of sad, really.

I am all in favor of ways to strong-arm money out of businesses --- they seem to be doing quite well at the expense of customers.

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