[pluijzer]

Starting from 1996 we had ChipKnip in the Netherlands. When it came out you could already pay with debitcards in most shops. The added benefit was that it was suited for small purchases and worked in places without a phoneline, like the bus. One problem is that if you break or lose the card your money will be gone. I remeber that when I was a child more then once I broke my card and had to tape it togheter in aome wild fashion in order to use my money.