[lambda]

Hmm, pretty neat hack! I like the idea a lot.

I'm disappointed that they didn't mention that this is hooked to an online service until you get well into their FAQ:

    Maintaining the integrity of your Coin’s data is 
    critical to your peace of mind. That’s why our servers,
    mobile apps and the Coin itself use 128-bit or 256-bit 
    encryption for all storage and communication (http and 
    bluetooth). Additionally Coin can alert you in the 
    event that you leave it somewhere.

If this were purely a hardware device and software than ran on my phone, I might be interested. Adding in an online service appears to add more points of failure, and more opportunity for yet another third party to snoop on my behavior. It would be nice if they described in more detail why this online service was necessary, what data was stored there, and what privacy protections they provide.

Also disappointing that it doesn't support chip and pin. Whenever I travel to the UK, I find that people are increasingly surprised by cards that don't have a chip, and need to fumble around trying to remember how to use the card reader; it would be nice if this would be an opportunity for me to get a chip and pin compatible card out of my mag stripe card to avoid that problem (though on reflection, it's likely that a mag stripe doesn't contain sufficient information to make a valid chip and pin card).

$100 for something that lasts for two years and solves only a minor annoyance seems a bit steep. I'm sure that there will be plenty of people who will buy it, but I don't know if I would find it worth the cost beyond the novelty value.

I do appreciate their Bluetooth LE Arduino dev kit: http://blog.onlycoin.com/posts/2013/10/3/coin-arduino-ble-de...

[untog]

The cloud part concerns me just from a functionality point of view. Does it require internet connectivity just for basic operation? It doesn't seem totally clear. I would certainly hope not.

I hate to sound incredibly cynical, but this sounds like a perfect example of Silicon Valley fluff that will never become mainstream. They aren't even the first SV company to be working on this product.

[JumpCrisscross]

>I hate to sound incredibly cynical

You picked a valid point of concern (if Coin requires connectivity for basic operation), assumed the negative, and then used that assumption to denounce the company as "Silicon Valley fluff that will never become mainstream". Stylised: if A then shit -> I think A -> hence shit.

[untog]

No, my denunciation is based on the entire concept. It makes a very small problem marginally easier to deal with.

[cptskippy]

Q. What if I lose my phone? A. When you pair your Coin with your phone, it is associated with your account and not that specific phone/device. If you lose your phone, it is possible to pair your Coin with your new phone after installing the Coin mobile app and signing in.

[monoglotmark]

I think the online service has the potential to be the most valuable part of this whole product. All your transactions, across multiple accounts, tracked in one place allowing breakdowns of your spending and clarity on our outgoings. I also see a big win here for Coin, think Mint but with an opportunity to also suggest better products & services to spend your money on (since they'll know almost everything you're buying) - a marketer's dream.

[pyre]

I love how you start out in one direction:

> I think the online service has the potential to be the most valuable part of this whole product.

This is assumed to be from the user's point of view (rather than from the point of view of the company -- generating revenue -- or from an interested 3rd party).

Then you end with this:

> a marketer's dream

So is Coin targeting marketers, and the users are the product to be sold like so many other start-ups to come out of the Valley?

[hdevalence]

Valuable to whom? Having a complete record of all of my purchases and where I've been evey day might be a marketer's dream, but it's not my dream.

[guiambros]

Marketers already have access to all your purchases.

Your bank statement has ads. Your credit card issuer sells your transactions to their partners. Retailers sell your data to data processing companies. The three big scoring companies have access to all your key financial information - and they sell it back to you (in the form of credit score monitoring services), and to marketers. DSPs allow marketers to bid on impressions at a very precise level, based on which sites you visited yesterday.

Marketer's dreams were already fulfilled years ago. They have a more data than most can handle.

Coin can become the credit card of credit cards. They could offer financing, revolving credit, analytics (like Mint), and tons of other financial products based on credit history. These are a lot more interesting - and profitable - than selling ads (or data) to marketers.

It's an obvious idea, but (apparently) nicely executed. It's a perfect acquisition target for Square. Or Visa/MC/Amex.

[ImprovedSilence]

uh.... better stop paying with plastic then.

[lambda]

Yeah, that whole "marketer's dream" part is exactly what I object to. No thanks.