FaceCash is another take on the digital wallet.  From their handout at the show,

“Use FaceCash and the Thinklink network to pay for goods and services at participating merchant stores – all with your iPhone/iPod Touch, Blackberry or Android phone.  Everything about good old plastic, from rewards to statements, is even better with FaceCash.  It’s easy, and it will save you time and money whether you are buying or selling. “

Here’s how it works (from their brochure at the show):

1. Deposit – the customer deposits money into their FaceCash account allowing them to use the funds anywhere FaceCash is accepted.
2. Present – Each FaceCash account is tied to a unique barcode that can be displayed on a smartphone or self-printed card to identify customers.
3. Scan – as soon as the merchant scans the barcode, the customers face appears on the merchant’s PC or Mac to prevent fraud.
4. Track – Funds are transferred instantly from customer to merchant.  Both the customer and the merchant have complete records available on-line of everything bought and sold.

The team at NRF told me that unlike Square (which also provides a card swipe device for the iPhone ) FaceCash was meant to be like ‘paypal’ for retailers and leverages scanners instead of a proprietary device.

The mobile wallet is something of a holy grail being pursued by mammoth, global companies (e.g., Qualcomm ).  It’s coming, but I don’t think companies like FaceCash will be able to get the critical mass required.  So, while I don’t think FaceCash is the next big thing,  it’s a good illustration of where we are heading.   For independent business owners  FaceCash, Square, Mophie and perhaps Apple itself, all signal a fairly significant change in the cost of being able to accept credit cards.  There will be impact to the incumbent hardware providers in this space as well as the large payment providers – to the benefit of retailers large and small.

Unfortunately, I think the FaceCash guys have a very tough road ahead up against better capitalized, larger competition, but the concept itself is a good example of where things are heading.

Photo credit:  iPhone Mobile Payment 100 Euro by Monty Metzger