Google To Unveil Mobile Payment System This Week
by Toni McQuilken
May 25, 2011 10:46 AM –
According to a Reuters source, Google will be unveiling it’s mobile payments system this week. Supposedly, the system will let consumers pay at checkout with phones instead of cards, the source said. Google will work with MasterCard Inc. to launch the system, the source told Reuters.
It has reportedly signed up retail partners Macy’s Inc, American Eagle Outfitters Inc and Subway, though it is unclear if the project will be launched nationwide or just in New York initially, the Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying this past Tuesday in an article.
Google invited reporters to attend a “partner event” on Thursday in New York to demonstrate what it called its “latest innovations.” It plans to unveil a mobile payments system that will run on the Android operating system and be available on phones from Sprint Nextel Corp, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
According to the reports, Google will roll out near-field-communication technology (NFC), which lets people pay at NFC-equipped cash registers with their phone. The technology is available hardware-wise on the Nexus S from Sprint.
This comes on the heels of Square’s announcement this week about it’s new digital wallet app, which is a direct competitor to the NFC payment model. With Square’s app, retailers and consumers would only need to install a piece of software to participate, versus requiring hardware on both ends to make the system work, such as NFC needs. The battle for digital wallets is starting to heat up, and should be very interesting to watch over the next several months to see which systems pull ahead of the pack feature and retailer-buy-in wise, are the most secure, and are embraced by consumers the fastest.
Tags:
Android,
digital wallet,
Google,
Mobile Payments,
Near Field Communications,
NFC,
Square Mobile Payments
Categorised in: Apps Blog, Featured, News
Submit apps for review,
promote apps, get more installs with better
app videos.