Google’s Nexus S smartphone comes with the Google Wallet platform. The same could be featured on iPhone, if Apple develop their own version of the Near Field Communication (NFC)technology. This was declared by Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, reports Techradar.
When asked about moving the technology to other platforms Schmidt said that “most vendors will have the necessary near field communications chip in their devices by next year.”
OEMs like LG and Sony Ericsson have already committed to adding NFC chips to their Android phones.
NFC technology allows devices to simplify payment transactions, data exchange and connection through touch. Armed with technology that was built in 2004 smartphones and tablet computers can be used to conduct payment transactions by credit card.
Schmidt also predicted that the ‘tap and pay’ revolution will be in full swing within 12 months, with over a third of shops and restaurants accepting payment by mobile.
He says Google is pushing payment processors to crack on with upgrading the in-store tech. He reckons they, and not Google or phone manufacturers, will be paying for the switch as the credit card company’s have the motivation of lower fraud rates through NFC-based payments.
“I judge that based on how long I think it takes, because the terminals are available now, the software is available now or this summer,” he said.
“How long does it take an infrastructure player to upgrade a significant percentage of their infrastructure?” It’s on the order of a year, it’s not a week, it’s not a month but it’s also not five years,” said Schmidt.
A mediapost report says, “Marketers have options other than Google Wallet when it comes to mobile electronic payments. Naratte, a Silicon Valley Startup has been creating a buzz behind technology that uses a speaker and a microphone found in mobile handsets and devices. The technology provides the same benefits as NFC to launch mobile wallet transactions and marketing campaigns such as coupons.
The report continues, “Naratte Cofounder and CEO Brett Paulson calls the ultrasonic technology Zoosh. The technology, when built into an application, can serve up coupons and other marketing campaigns, as well as process e-commerce transactions with merchants. It gives application developers the benefits of near field communication (NFC) in a software development kit (SDK).”
As regards the readiness of customers to use the Google Wallet or other cashless transactions, the report says, “Although Google and Apple still have work to do, consumers under age 50 are ready to make cashless transactions. A recent study from Retrevo titled “Pulse” examines consumers’ readiness to start paying for items in-store using their cell phone. The study, released earlier this month, found that iPhone owners are more comfortable using a mobile wallet from Apple, at 61% compared with Android owners, at 46%.”
“In fact, 40% of iPhone owners are the most likely to want NFC in their phone to conduct mobile transactions, compared with 24% for Android owners. Men, at 27%, are more interested in a mobile wallet, compared with women at 15%. And 75% of people over age 50 were not interested in a phone with a mobile wallet,” says the report.