Is Logitech selling Booms at IFA?

[surly]

You should see it now, it's very fast nearly no delay while connecting to the bank.

Greetz surly

[pippin]

I had an Eurocheque Card. It seemed pretty advanced 20 years ago.

yes, German banks love that one and try to press it into the market instead of credit cards. The big difference is: with EC you take all the risk instead of the bank. Bad system. Try to avoid it wherever I can

[Michaelwagner]

Hmm...the system you guys are describing is nothing like what we had 20 years ago. These were cheques, given out in limited quantities, that were as good as cash. You had to show your card and write your card number on the back. There was no calling the bank ... the cheques were effectively "certified" up to 400DM.

[pippin]

Hmm...the system you guys are describing is nothing like what we had 20 years ago. These were cheques, given out in limited quantities, that were as good as cash. You had to show your card and write your card number on the back. There was no calling the bank ... the cheques were effectively "certified" up to 400DM.

Yea. That's not around anymore.
Today you only use the card. Essentially like a credit card but tied to your bank account.
They have a security feature using your PIN code that puts the burden of proof on you in case of fraud and they have a system using signatures that's pretty similar to a credit card with the exception that the amount is immediately deducted from your bank account (also making it YOUR money that gets stolen in case of fraud intead of the bank's as with a credit card).
Overall, from a customer perspective it's not nearly as secure or convenient as a real credit card but banks love it for the lower risk and shops like it for the lower cost.

[radish]

Today you only use the card. Essentially like a credit card but tied to your bank account.

AKA a Debit card in the rest of the world.

[pippin]

rest of the world.

Allow me to doubt that.

Also we were talking about that specific type of card Michael had and that was NOT yet a debit card at the time he was in Germany.

[radish]

Allow me to doubt that.

Feel free. I guess I should have been more specific about my definitions, according to wikipedia they exist in a decent number of places:

UK
USA
France
Germany
Poland
Hungary
Australia
Canada
Chile
Colombia
India
Japan
The Netherlands
New Zealand
The Philippines
Russia
Singapore

...and probably a few more. It even points to the EC card as the first common type of debit card in Germany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debit_card

[pippin]

But they are not called "Debit Card" in all of these places, see for example:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%...83%BC%E3%83%89
http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankkikortti
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betaalkaart
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%80%...AE%B0%E5%8D%A1

Funny enough, I just learned that they ARE actually called "Debitkarte" in Germany, which I really never ever heard being used.

EDIT: This starts to become some real hair-splitting fun :-)

[radish]

EDIT: This starts to become some real hair-splitting fun :-)

Which was not my intention, I was simply putting the term out there for the benefit of readers from places other than Germany I remember eurocheques very clearly from my childhood, and their evolution into debit cards in the UK. I also remember being amazed last time I was in Germany as I was in a large electronics store watching people buy e3000 home theater setups with huge bundles of cash. Different strokes I guess!

[surly]

Maybe it's just not as much a living on credit society here...

But it's getting worse.

Greetz Surly