USA: EBay buys Fig Card, says we don't need wallets

EBay Inc.’s (EBAY) online payment service PayPal has acquired Boston-based Fig Card, a payment startup that seeks to eliminate the use of credit cards in lieu of smartphones. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed.
Fig Card allows retailers to enable mobile payments via a free USB device from Fig Card that plugs directly into cash registers or point-of-sale terminals after users download the Fig Card app and set up payment options, all without the use of hardware by consumers. A big score for PayPal is that users will be able to add PayPal as a payment option.
“The lines between online and offline commerce continue to blur – thanks in large part to technology innovation in mobile,” said Peter Chu, senior director of PayPal Mobile, in a company blog post. “In the future, transactions can be as smart as a computer and not as dumb as paper. We don’t need our physical wallets. We’ll be able to pay any way we want, from any device, anywhere in the world with both flexibility and privacy.”
Fig Card uses a different method that another popular mobile payment system called Square, that uses smartphones and iPads as credit-card readers with a small device that plugs in the earphone jack of the devices to accept credit card swipes and emails receipts to users.
EBay also bought location-based ad company Where.com for a reported $138 million earlier this month. Where.com specializes in building apps that suggest local deals for events, eateries, retail shops and bars. PayPal is expected to integrate the company’s platform into Where.com as well, and the new services are likely to help PayPal compete with other technologies like near field communication (NFC).