From ReadWriteWeb.com,
Google and MasterCard Teaming Up?
Google is preparing to launch a mobile payments system in partnership with MasterCard and Citigoup, Inc., according to a report in The Wall St. Journal. The service is the long-rumored mobile venture utilizing NFC (near field communication) technology, which allows customers to wave or tap their phones at the point-of-sale to pay for purchases. Google isn't taking a cut of the transaction fees, says the report, but would use the system to provide retailers with more data about their customers so they could better target their ads.
Google and MasterCard Teaming Up?
Google is preparing to launch a mobile payments system in partnership with MasterCard and Citigoup, Inc., according to a report in The Wall St. Journal. The service is the long-rumored mobile venture utilizing NFC (near field communication) technology, which allows customers to wave or tap their phones at the point-of-sale to pay for purchases. Google isn't taking a cut of the transaction fees, says the report, but would use the system to provide retailers with more data about their customers so they could better target their ads.
"That's good, considering that the recent rumors about MasterCard's involvement with Google and Citibank to build a Google-branded mobile payments system would have the form factor being the mobile phone itself, not the SIM card." With Google's Android mobile operating system, support for NFC has been built into the software. That means phone manufacturers can put NFC chips in the phone then install Android in order to ship NFC-capable devices. Google's flagship phone, the Nexus S, is a recent example of a popular NFC smartphone. Anderson calls Google's decision to add the NFC support into Android "a very big deal." "This was an important decision," he said. "It gave a path for handset manufacturers to support NFC with very little work." If Google led the way in mobile payments, it would be about scale, said Anderson. By licensing the OS to manufacturers, it's a broader play. There's less control from top-to-bottom. This would be different from the route Apple is expected to take, which would involve end-to-end control of the entire experience. That's not necessarily a poor decision, however, Anderson said. Apple tends to delight its customer base, said Anderson. It could do an amazing job.
