My Way News - Digital movie locker `UltraViolet' nears launch
My Way News reports: "A group of media and electronics companies will soon start testing a system that will let you watch the movies and TV shows that you buy wherever you are, regardless of formats and other technical hurdles. Like ATMs, your account would follow you, no matter what brand of machine you use."

Comment: Perhaps someone will turn this around and realize that if they can make a virtual locker for movies they can do this for money. If we can get secure virtual wallets then mobile commerce will really take off.

Imagine if when you present your payment to a vendor you are using a virtual number, not your credit card number, not your debit card number, and not your social security number, but rather a digital "wallet locker" tied to your real account. Your payment would be an encrypted number to your digital wallet, which you manage online. After all, a merchant only wants to get paid and the virtual wallet ensures that, and then you later manage your wallet and decide if you want your purchase billed to your credit card or cash account, easily switching between all of your accounts at will. So when you present your virtual payment, it's not really your account or even money at that point, more like a validated, "I'm good for it, IOU" that later (and securely) taps into your account, but allowing mobile and online transactions to process quickly, without the hassle of waiting for banks to authorize transactions. This could then be seen as a precursor to the MOTB as it's starts the transition to a number based format rather than cash or conventional credit cards.

Such a system would also promote consumer spending by shifting perceptions. Imagine if when you login to your virtual wallet and see all of your accounts you also see a grand total of your available virtual cash, which represents a total of your cash account, your savings account and brokerage accounts, as well as the credit available on your credit cards. That total is bound to be much more than what you are used to thinking of as spending cash. You will feel much richer than you really are and you will therefore spend more. Of course, for most consumers, this is also a recipe for more debt, but that's what drives the economy both now and in the foreseeable future.