The first prototype of magnetic stripe card created by IBM in the late 1960s. There are several virtual card issuing companies located in different geographical regions, such as Weel in Australia and Privacy in the USA. On Google released its own version of a cloud hosted Google Wallet which contains digital cards - cards that can be created online without having to have a plastic card in first place, although all of its merchants currently issue both plastic and digital cards. As technological progress emerged in the form of highly capable and always carried smartphones, handhelds and smartwatches, the term 'digital card' was introduced. In 1960 IBM used the magnetic tape to develop a reliable way of securing magnetic stripes to plastic cards, the most common identification and payment method to date. They also provide the standards for financial cards, including the allocation of card number ranges to different card issuing institutions. A number of International Organization for Standardization standards, ISO/IEC 7810, ISO/IEC 7811, ISO/IEC 7812, ISO/IEC 7813, ISO 8583, and ISO/IEC 4909, now define the physical properties of the card, including size, flexibility, location of the magstripe, magnetic characteristics, and data formats. In 1960, IBM used the magnetic tape idea to develop a reliable way of securing magnetic stripes to plastic cards, under a contract with the US government for a security system.

In the 1950s, magnetic recording of digital computer data on plastic tape coated with iron oxide was invented. Magnetic recording on steel tape and wire was invented by Valdemar Poulsen in Denmark around 1900 for recording audio. It was later switched to the back side.Ī smartphone or smartwatch can store content from the card issuer discount offers and news updates can be transmitted wirelessly, via Internet These virtual cards are used in very high volumes by the mass transit sector, replacing paper based tickets and earlier MagStrip cards.

Note that the narrow magnetic stripe is on the front of the card. Front side of the first Magnetic Stripe plastic credit card.

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