Carriers like Sprint, AT&T and Verizon are all rushing into plans that involve using your smartphone to make store purchases. The plans for all three carriers involve using near field communications (NFC) technology embedded in smartphones to allow users to simply swipe their phones at the cash register. Originally, AT&T and Verizon had wanted to bypass the major credit card players (VISA, MasterCard) and pave their own way in the space, but recently realized they'd have better luck simply tying such systems to existing credit/debit lines.

T-Mobile this week announced a similar but less aggressive plan to allow users to make online purchases with their T-Mobile accounts with a service dubbed "Direct Carrier Billing." However, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Consumer's Union is warning users that they may not be afforded the same consumer protections when using smartphones for purchases:Meanwhile carriers may have some work cut out for themselves when it comes to selling consumers on the deal. A recent survey suggested that just 21% of consumers are interested in mobile phone payment systems. Many also may not be comfortable letting AT&T and Verizon, recently under fire for completely ignoring privacy laws, anywhere near their financial data.