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That's not close to being a chicken and egg. The card companies just have to release the cards, then up the fees for using it without chip & pin.

What's the point of buying the POS systems when no-one can use it and there's no guarantee the cards will be rolled out?

It happened very rapidly here in Britain once the cards were out.

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It's all politics. Its a big financial commitment for whichever side goes first. The US has a bigger population than Britain. And perhaps the industry politics were different there too. The card companies may have got their way.

There's liability to consider as well. In the US, the consumer is generally not liable for fraud; I've certainly heard that in other countries with chip and PIN, if somebody steals and uses your card (having somehow obtained your PIN) you don't necessarily get your money back.

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