Verizon has blocked the Samsung Galaxy Nexus from running Google Wallet, Google's NFC-based pay-by-phone service, according to Computerworld, presumably because Verizon backs a competing standard called Isis.
This is just another blow to NFC, the little technology that just can't get a break in the U.S. because nobody's willing to settle on a standard for mobile wallets.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: there's just too much money and too many customers at stake for any of the big players—mobile OS providers, carriers, banks, and credit card companies—to give up control to any of the others. So we aren't likely to get a single NFC payment standard, and we're going to have to wait until devices (including phones and payment terminals) support multiple standards.
Google Wallet is Sprint, Google, Citibank and Mastercard.
Isis is the three other wireless carriers, but so far no banks or credit card companies.
There's wide speculation that Apple will deploy yet another system next year, based on iTunes and exclusive to iDevices.
Google and Isis aren't taking a cut of mobile payments, so the concern here is more subtle; it's about ecosystems and control. Each payment system can connect seamlessly with coupon systems, loyalty cards, mobile advertising and point-of-sale terminals, and there's a potential for profit in each of those steps.
There's an additional benefit for companies like Apple, which would both sell products and control a payment system. Apple has understood this for years, and it's the whole basis of Amazon's business: once you have someone's payment info on file, it becomes very easy to get them to buy things from you, because buying things becomes very easy.
News from pcmag.com
No comments:
Post a Comment