AI Agents Herald Zero Checkout: The End of Digital Wallets?

AI Agents Herald Zero Checkout: The End of Digital Wallets?

In 1996 the Palm Pilot felt like the future. For those unfamiliar (or not yet born), the Palm Pilot was a pocket computer that organized contacts, calendars and tasks in a way that was fast, simple and portable. Developers created apps allowing users access to the internet. It wasn’t the first Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), but it was the first that worked for the mainstream. Or those clever enough to master the Graffiti script that made it work. I never really did. HotSync made a handful of apps that were as real-time as real time got in 1996. For a few years, the Palm Pilot was indispensable. The initial release sold one million copies in 18 months .  Hip and happening executives carried it everywhere. Developers built more and apps. Amazon was one of its early commerce touchpoints. It defined a moment. That, at the time, seemed to define the future. Then along came Blackberry with a real keyboard that made it easier to use and more attractive to more users, though not so much to deve…