Call Kurtis: New Technology Allows Customers To Store Receipts On Phones

Everyone has a mound of receipts somewhere, whether it's stashed in your wallet, shoe boxes, the glove compartment, or a junk drawer. And when it's time to make a return, file your taxes or fill out an expense report, you go digging. But one day you may file all those receipts into your phone.

"We pass the data straight from our device that's set at the checkout counter straight to your phone," says Fang Cheng, CEO of Proximiant.

Cheng's startup company has come up with technology that allows customers to use phones armed with Near Field Communication, or NFC technology, to get receipts sent from the register right to their phone. If the phone doesn't have NFC, customers can use a free key ring tag.

Receipts can then be pulled up at any time with the Proximiant app, available for the iPhone or Android.

"It has the utility value for the shoppers because it organizes spending," says Cheng.

Right now Proximiant is in a dozen Bay Area stores including Loyal Army, a T-shirt shop in San Francisco.

Then there's Google Wallet, which uses the same NFC technology to pay with your phone. Consumers with certain phones just tap a reader. You may one day ditch your need for a wallet to hold receipts or credit cards.

"Will it catch on? That's something that it's just too early to see, but I think that it has a good chance," says Jessica Dolcourt, a CNET senior associate editor.

But with different stores using different technologies, your next problem may be figuring out which app to use where.

"As with any new technology, there are a lot of players who are sort of fighting to be the first to do it. And in the end I think we're only going to see one or two or maybe three succeed," says Dolcourt.

If you're worried about not getting your digital receipt, you can always ask to get the old-fashioned paper receipt as well as the digital one. For stores where these apps aren't available, there are a number of other stores like GAP, Nordstrom and Sears that offer to email you a receipt.