Day four of the Gemalto 2013 Contactless Challenge was marked by 109 people filling the Austin downtown Whole Foods (@WholeFoodsATX) and 119 attendees lining up at the Salt Lake City Sugar House @WholeFoods to see NFC in action. Our competing bloggers Kathy Dalton (@KathyDaltonSLC) and Josh Kerr (@JoshKerr), along with a few representatives from Isis and Gemalto, answered questions and let their fans make contactless payments on their NFC-enabled phones. The turnout was incredible!
Armed with balloons, a register and his NFC-enabled phone, Josh “killed it” at Whole Foods, helping young and old alike to use contactless payments for their desserts. Josh touted the ease of transactions and tweeted a picture of an 8-year-old using Josh’s phone at the register. Josh also landed a well-deserved bonus point for getting the store to announce “happy birthday” to a customer over the loud speaker.
But Josh’s stellar turnout was soon eclipsed. Partway through the Salt Lake City event, Kathy Instagrammed a picture of her impressive dessert check-out line. Watch Kathy and the Isis team announcing the final tally. “That’s a lot of receipts!” said Kathy. “Did you hear that, Austin? 119 – Salt Lake rocks!”
httpv://youtu.be/ZkZvkplRiHE
In addition to planning and hosting the @WholeFoods events, Josh and Kathy continued to complete their list of challenges. Kathy spent the entire day using contactless payments, buying new shoes @Footlocker and grabbing a treat at Roxberry Juice. Also, at the suggestion of a follower, she shopped around @Macys for a heated toilet seat! Josh hit a challenge snafu when P. Terry’s burger stand did not accept contactless payments, but turned it around at Wholly Cow for lunch.
Josh and Kathy rounded out a busy challenge day with some high scores for the Whole Foods events. Let’s see if they can keep the momentum going into the weekend as their near the finish line.
