While Apple is reportedly working hard on its own mobile payment service, Boston-based startup Loop has just released its own mobile payments device -- one that works at most traditional U.S. retail outlets. The Loop Fob is a small device that allows users to store credit card information on the iPhone, and then wirelessly pay at any traditional magnetic stripe reader. It uses "Magnetic Secure Transmission" to create a small magnetic field via an inductive loop. That magnetic field is detected by the read head of a traditional swipe credit card reader, fooling the device into thinking a normal credit card has been swiped. As a result, the device allows any credit card to be digitally stored in an iPhone and used as need
