Texas Dude,
There is a consideration that you have not mentioned. In the use of credit cards to purchase physical products, the encryption applies to the recording of the transaction only. And there are many implementations that can handle such a transaction. Further, once the transaction is consummated, there is a traceable chain of evidence through invoices, shipping records, delivery signatures, etc. that establishes the history of the physical movement of the product through the system and to the buyer.
In a transaction involving the sale or interchange of digital content, Wave not only encrypts and controls the transactional information, but it also encrypts and controls the content itself. Without such encryption to provide a secure path to the buyer from the seller, a secure and documented delivery is not possible. Digital content, unlike a physical product, cannot be recovered or repossessed and, once received, has delivered most of its value to the receiver. The Wave system provides, in its hardware implementation, a more secure means of insuring that the encrypted product gets to the actual purchaser and only the actual purchaser, than do software-only solutions.
In making the comparisons to other systems, in the case of delivery of digital product the analog to Wave is not the credit card processing and transactional monitoring system, it is the entire distribution process from sale by the content producer (possibly through one or more middlemen) shipment of product, passage of the product through the transportation system, recording of payment for and receipt of product, certification of delivery and placement of the product into the buyer's hands. It is for these reasons that comparisons with credit card systems and other e-commerce systems for delivery of physical product are not always appropriate. It is also for these reasons that Wave's services to the buyer and the seller transcend those provided by a credit card processor, and that they therefore are priced differently.
Steve |
