And technology that turns phones into credit cards and IDs poses several potential problems.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, banks and cell phone makers started conducting trials with U.S. customers. Limited groups of people were given the ability to scan their phones to make payments, enter stadiums and access public transit.

If phones replace wallets, would-be thieves will see every person walking down the street talking on his or her phone as a target for robbery, said Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Eye scans and fingerprints would make phone IDs and payments more secure, Brown said. The ID technology might work like a corporate security badge, which pulls up personal information when scanned.

The common format would give Sony Reader owners much more choice about where they get their e-books from.

"Consumers should not have to worry about which device works with which store," said Steve Haber, president of Sony's digital reading business division, in a statement.

In a statement Facebook said the new service would be a "faster, simpler version similar to the Facebook experience you get on a mobile phone".