Coin, a startup that makes an electronic device which stores multiple credit and debit cards, is entering a rocky weekend.
On Friday, the company disclosed that it would miss its original summer 2014 shipping deadline. Coin has now pushed back the device's release until spring 2015. Instead, Coin is launching a nationwide beta program for only 10,000 preorder customers, a move the company said would help better fine-tune its device and gear up for mass production. For now, the beta product works only in 85 percent of US card terminals.
The San Francisco-based company arrived on the scene in November and began taking preorders for its device through its own website as part of a crowdfunding campaign. Unlike more traditional methods like Kickstarter, however, Coin explicitly sold customers a device for $55 -- no pledging or donating was involved. Coin's product promised to slim down your wallet and communicate with your smartphone via Bluetooth, allowing you to swipe the card in place of up to eight pieces of plastic.
