Smartcards’ new deal

Not long ago, a bunch of startups promised us battery-powered cards that would toggle between debit, credit and loyalty accounts. Seen one lately?

Many of these “smartcard” startups – a list that included Coin, Plastc, Stratos and many others – have crashed and burned in the past several years. But the idea isn’t dead yet, says one hopeful entrepreneur, who says previous efforts just “didn’t work.”

“Their business models never embraced the banks or networks,” says Jeff Mullen, CEO of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Dynamics, which unveiled its own new Wallet

Card at this month’s CES gadget show in Las Vegas. “They always tried to compete against them.”

Dynamics’ card has the backing of payment networks Visa, MasterCard and JCB; banks including Emirates and Canada’s CIBC; and mobile carrier Sprint, which Mullen says will help it get coverage in much of the world. It’s expected to reach consumers later this year.

But there may be a bigger obstacle ahead. Phone-based payment systems from Apple, Google and Samsung do much the same thing, and don’t force you to carry around a new card.