How Google – With the Android OS – Will Revolutionize the Art of Payments
When Google released its Google Wallet NFC payment app in May 2011, there may not have been much fanfare to its debut. Even now, NFC payment solutions have been slow to catch on due to the availability of debit cards and the lack of universal acceptance of NFC technology. The dynamic, however, may be changing, with big card issuers such as MasterCard seemingly onboard with the idea of NFC. The following paragraphs explain why Google is poised to become the main mobile payment processing agent of the future.
Credit card companies have dreamed of using NFC technology as a way to remain relevant in an ever-changing world, but have fought amongst each other for years when it comes to developing a profit-sharing model and a unified infrastructure. Google, thanks to its vast technological expanse and specifically, a growing presence in the phone industry, has easily put in place the infrastructure through which all payment processing can one day take place. While it is very likely that Google does not necessarily need any big credit card companies to ultimately implement this method of payment, card companies seem to recognize that this may be their last chance to cling on to their domain.
By 2014, over 50% of all cell phones in use will be NFC-compliant, which means that roughly half of any business' customers will be able to pay through this technology. Virtually all phones being produced in 2012 are NFC-compliant, so for anyone currently in a contract, your current phone will likely be the last non-NFC compliant phone you have. It is very likely that this method of payment will be cheaper for the merchant and easier in the end for both the merchant and the customer, making it more likely to be adopted by all businesses. Currently, 300,000 merchants worldwide are already set up for NFC payments, thanks to MasterCard's less than successful PayPass system. We do seem to be headed for mobile payments to become a reality.
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