In reply to Chris Farlee.

I'm afraid I have to agree with you on this one, Chris. My company developed a chip for another Los Altos, CA based company that developed a card which produced secure, unique, card-present transactions without the need for a complete infrastructure overhaul. We had a fully functional, inexpensive prototype that worked in most of the POS terminals in the field. But the market simply wouldn't accept it for the reasons you indicated above.
Perhaps Mr. Lamouche needs a better understanding of the U.S. merchant mindset. I believe they are the ones who will ultimately call the shots on this one.