Zak Stambor

Let's say you've always wanted to see Aerosmith play an ultra-rare acoustic concert. If the band was in your town for one night only, playing that elusive acoustic show, what would you do to get tickets? Would you be willing to get a new credit card?

When Boston decided to replace 163 single-spaced electronic parking meters with 23 solar-powered ones that accept credit cards on a four-block stretch of Newbury Street in the city's Tony Back Bay neighborhood, transportation officials there anticipated greater driver convenience.

Seven years ago, Bruno Sementilli, president and CEO of Purchase, N.Y.-based Quorum Federal Credit Union (then known as Kraft Foods Federal Credit Union), was in a bind.

About four years ago, Wes Marco, director of information services at Hooters of America Inc., noticed a significant increase in customers paying with debit cards. But as the number of debit transactions rose, so did customers' complaints about what they thought were overcharges for their meals.

A few months ago, Greg Garback, an executive from Washington, D.C., was on a business trip in Manhattan and needed to get uptown, so he decided to take the subway. Instead of purchasing a prepaid MetroCard, he headed straight to the turnstile, waved his Citibank MasterCard PayPass key fob over a reader, and within 300 milliseconds the fare gate opened.