Catching up on my weekend newspaper reading I spotted a thought-provoking article in the Guardian's money section about the use of contactless payment cards.

There's a view that the tipping point in the use of this technology is almost upon us, and it's a development chimes perfectly with a lively conversation I had a few months back with some contacts in the publishing technology business. Wouldn't it be great, I said, if I could buy a magazine or newspaper from a street seller using my Oyster card? Great from my point-of-view in terms of convenience, and great from the retailer's point-of-view as there's no need to worry about the attendant cash handling issues that have to be tackled by anyone trying to sell publications on the street.

Contactless payment cards, whereby low value items of £15 or less are paid for with a wave of one's payment card (not quite as conveniently as the blip of an Oyster, but not far off) should be of great interest to publishers looking to grow sales through new revenue streams. I'm sure Mike Soutar and his team at Shortlist Media will be watching this development closely. They already have an army of street distributors in place, what's to stop them adding paid-for products once payment via these same distributors becomes both secure and a breeze?

Think of the potential for additional programme/merchandise sales at major events, too.

Annoyingly, my bank doesn't plan to introduce contactless payment cards until next March, so I'm relying on the Barclaycard-wielding members of PrintWeek's readership to report back on their experiences using this technology.

Definitely something to keep an eye on.