Since smart tech operates with little human oversight, it could precipitate irregularities, though proponents argue it could also prevent them. Such concerns have not stanched the spread of chip-laden plastic. The French use 23 million smart cards, the Japanese 11 million. Worldwide, there are over 600 million, mostly telephone cards. One in five payphones accepts them, though finding a phone that does is easier in Stuttgart than in Surabaya.
Smart tech enables cellular phone users to easily operate in different countries.
Within 18 months an electronic-cash system being tested in England will start pilot operations in Hong Kong and Singapore. Today they can handle 80 times more information than the most advanced magnetic-stripe plastic, which usually contain little more than a name, an account number and a secret ID code. Next year, there may be smart cards with 3,200 times more memory. That, says Allen, a vice-president at Citicorp in New York, will be enough for the card to process data on its own. And there may be no need to take cards out of wallets or purses either.