onengine.com

If you are in Asia, you know what I'm talking about. People there have been making payments with their mobile phones using what's called "near-field communications." Just wave the handset in front of a reader and voila, the transaction is done.

So, a French company called Inside Contactless has come up with an interim solution that will let people turn their phones into credit cards and transit cards. Inside's MicroPass technology will be embedded into a sticker that can then be affixed to a phone, wallet, or anything else.

The company, which entered the U.S. bank card market with a microprocessor-based chip in 2005 and is backed by Nokia, Motorola and Samsung, recently announced that Colorado Plastics will be producing stickers using the MicroPass technology.

Soon, we may see people waving their mobile phones, iPods, ID badges, or wallets in front of readers to get on the subway or buy coffee at Starbucks.