Snap, Click and Pay; When Does Ease of Use Go Too Far?

A Danish bank, Danske, now offers customers an app that permits snapping a photo of a bill, then a click to pay it. It is not as if paying bills with phones was tough to begin with, but while this feature offers considerable ease of use, one wonders about the opportunities for fraud or abuse, as well as a larger concern about the sort of general heedlessness that got us into the financial crisis. Some transactions simply should take a bit more time so those paying can think about what they are doing. One can imagine that use of this service will soar on weekend nights as drunken revelers click obliviously away. Is that what we want? And more to the point, is that what we need?

Springwise.com has the story:

"Online payments may be easier to make than their offline counterparts in general, but there's still at least some pain involved in entering account numbers and other information. Aiming to push the convenience up another notch, Danish Danske Bank now lets consumers snap a photo of their bill and then simply click to pay.

Danske Bank customers begin by downloading the bank's mobile app, which is available for Android, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Even those who are not customers of the bank can use some of the app's features, which include funds transfer and bill payments. For the latter, customers can use their phone's built-in camera to avoid having to enter key details such as the account number and payment amount. Instructions for doing so are provided on Danske Bank's site, but essentially all customers need do is photograph the relevant section of their bill and then click to pay it.

Danske Bank's app is free, requiring only that users pay for data traffic