WOW... so what we have here is 500+ million cards with chips which admittedly will not be used until merchants spent several hundred dollars per POS in HW and SW upgrades and staff retraining. Then we will need to "re-educate" the consumers. When all of this is done we will have a Chip&Sign model in place... apparently... because somehow Chip&PIN will not be quite ready. With mag stripe swipe still available... what is a chance of widespread adoption?

I just came back from a Post Office where I paid with my AX. The branch was sporting a brand new terminal with a chip reader. Well, with my brand new chip-enabled AX in hand, I asked the clerk if I could use the chip instead of the mag stripe? He did not have a clue that the chip reader was there. I stuck the card into the slot... and... nothing happened :-). Apparently the "system" wasn't ready (nor the staff).

Hey, but the "comfortable mag-stripe" worked just fine.