American Express Goes Shopping Online With Blue

Card for Net shoppers adds a smart chip and an e-wallet for security.

Clare Haney, IDG News Service

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On Wednesday the company released a blue version--specially designed for shopping online--of its well-known credit card.

Called Blue, the new card contains a smart chip designed to offer customers additional security in their Internet-based transactions when it is used in combination with a smartcard reader. Blue can also be used as a traditional credit card because it has the magnetic stripe that can be swiped, American Express says in a statement.

As an additional security feature, the company is also offering an online wallet. A software data management and storage application, the online wallet will be available in November to customers who register on American Express's Web site.

Customers only have to enter the required purchase data, such as their name, account number, and shipping address, into their wallet once. When they want to buy something online, they just click open the wallet and hit the "complete purchase" button, according to the company.

Preventing Pickpockets

In order to prevent unauthorized access to an American Express online wallet, customers will be offered free smartcard readers to connect to their PCs. The smart chip in the Blue card stores a digital certificate unique to each cardholder. When the card is placed in the reader, the cardholder enters his or her PIN, the digital certificate is read by the reader, and the online wallet can be unlocked.

American Express says it will provide cardholders with free smartcard readers through January 31. After that the readers will cost $25 each.

Blue card members are also offered a fraud protection guarantee, which protects them against any unauthorized charges made online with their cards, American Express says.

Blue has its own Web site, where cardholders can check their current account status and pay their bills online. Cardholders can also download their card statements from the site into Intuit's Quicken accountancy software or to Microsoft's Money application.

American Express and rival Visa International, along with the likes of IBM, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems, support a universal standard for online wallets called the Electronic Commerce Modeling Language.

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