Bill's brilliant but unpatentable ideas, number one.
Situation: too many cards. Debit cards, credit cards, ATM cards, loyalty cards, membership cards, that pair of aces you have up your sleeve for when you have been losing at Texas Holdem - actually strike the last, I don't condone cheating and they're the wrong size for this idea anyway.
Problem 1. Too many cards, or rather too many BIG cards. Have you noticed that almost every card is credit-card sized? It's a global standard, or global conspiracy if you prefer. And almost everywhere wants you to have another loyalty card or another credit/store card.
Solution 1: before you go out, plan your journey and take only the cards you will need.
Problem 2: You can't shop around. Do you know in advance whether Sainsbury will be cheaper than Tesco? (Substitute your own local megasupermarkets.)
Solution 2: take all your cards, buying as many extra wallets as you need. For some reason most wallets only have about 10 slots so you may need 3 or 4 of them.
Problem 3: You may embarrass yourself by revealing your other loyalty cards, and having to admit you're seeing other stores. And do you have enough pockets for all those wallets?
Solution 3: My favourite and therefore brilliant IMNSHO. Do you recall the original SIM cards for GSM mobile phones? They were credit-card sized. As phones got smaller though, so did the SIM cards. There was a period where you got a fully credit-card sized SIM with a push-out bit if you only needed a micro-SIM. My idea is that we start to do that with ALL cards. Unfortunately the GSM association probably have that patented and so I can't have it.
Problem 4. You can't easily do a signature on the back of a micro-SIM size card. But with PIN technology signatures are becoming obsolete.
Problem 5. Apple will probably sue you to death if you take it to the next step and try to get Nano-SIM cards adopted.
Opportunities: if you like this idea, invest in SIM manufacturing companies. Sell all shares in companies only selling wallets for big cards and invest in ones prepared to provide wallets for smaller cards. And if you happen to be a big company prepared to change, remember me with a small cash donation. A million or two would be fine.
Problem 1. Too many cards, or rather too many BIG cards. Have you noticed that almost every card is credit-card sized? It's a global standard, or global conspiracy if you prefer. And almost everywhere wants you to have another loyalty card or another credit/store card.
Solution 1: before you go out, plan your journey and take only the cards you will need.
Problem 2: You can't shop around. Do you know in advance whether Sainsbury will be cheaper than Tesco? (Substitute your own local megasupermarkets.)
Solution 2: take all your cards, buying as many extra wallets as you need. For some reason most wallets only have about 10 slots so you may need 3 or 4 of them.
Problem 3: You may embarrass yourself by revealing your other loyalty cards, and having to admit you're seeing other stores. And do you have enough pockets for all those wallets?
Solution 3: My favourite and therefore brilliant IMNSHO. Do you recall the original SIM cards for GSM mobile phones? They were credit-card sized. As phones got smaller though, so did the SIM cards. There was a period where you got a fully credit-card sized SIM with a push-out bit if you only needed a micro-SIM. My idea is that we start to do that with ALL cards. Unfortunately the GSM association probably have that patented and so I can't have it.
Problem 4. You can't easily do a signature on the back of a micro-SIM size card. But with PIN technology signatures are becoming obsolete.
Problem 5. Apple will probably sue you to death if you take it to the next step and try to get Nano-SIM cards adopted.
Opportunities: if you like this idea, invest in SIM manufacturing companies. Sell all shares in companies only selling wallets for big cards and invest in ones prepared to provide wallets for smaller cards. And if you happen to be a big company prepared to change, remember me with a small cash donation. A million or two would be fine.