Apple's iPhone 5 is tipped to bring NFC among its various charms, but Korean carrier KT Telecom isn't willing to wait. It has launched an iPhone 4 NFC payments system, using the iCarte 420K NFC case, with a prepaid credit card supported by local transit, retailers, restaurants and entertainment venues like cinemas. Some places are offering discounts on services if people use the new KT system.
Google Wallet, the wireless payments system the search giant unveiled back in May, could well officially launch today according to a new leak. A document reportedly being sent to Google's payment partners, and leaked to TechCrunch, suggests that the NFC-based mobile money service will be enabled for the Nexus S 4G sometime on September 19.
The mobile payments arena was starting to look very fragmented with several different players each attempting to offer their own NFC-based system. Google announced their Google Wallet service in partnership with MasterCard, Visa hinted at its own service, while Discover teamed up with the ISIS network. But surprisingly, in an announcement today, it was revealed that MasterCard, Visa, and American Express have now all joined ISIS.
I would bet that with all the hubbub over wireless payments over the last year we are all familiar with near-field communications or NFC at this point. Many smartphones will eventually come with NFC technology built in that will allow the user to pay for things in stores by simply holding the phone near a payment machine sort of like you can do with Speedpass at Exxon gas stations. A lot of big names in the payment and tech world are working on bringing NFC payments to users with Google pushing Google Wallet and other alternatives from Visa and others.
The recent unveiling of Google Wallet revealed that the coupon and deals program called Google Offers would play a significant role in the new mobile payment system. Google Offers was announced back in April when it started taking early signups in the areas of Portland, New York, and San Francisco. Today, the beta version of Google Offers has officially gone live Portland.
You can usually rely on ex-CEO of Google (and current chairman) Eric Schmidt for a few good soundbites, but the exec's appearance at D9 was jam-packed with them. Schmidt opened by dismissing Microsoft as a player in the current platform war - which he says is now between a "gang of four" consisting Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook, with PayPal and Twitter potentially hovering outside - describing the software giant as no longer "driving the consumer revolution."
As for where Google fits with those three key rivals, Schmidt says the search company has "tried very hard to partner with Facebook" and that the social network has "done a number of things which I admire." He's particularly keen on how Facebook handles user-identity, with the imminent +1 for websites launch described as "not directly" chasing the social network but obviously an attempt to build Google's social strategy. Nonetheless, Schmidt says he takes the blame for Google's slow reaction to online identity, saying he recently dug out a four year old memo saying the company must address the issue but that "I failed to do it." "A CEO should take responsibility" he admits, "I screwed up."
Perhaps the two biggest topics of the week, the Google Wallet announcement and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.1 Mango unveiling, brought exciting new developments for the two mobile platforms. More speculation continued on what Apple has planned for next month's WWDC, where the company is expected to unveil the new iOS 5, OS X Lion, and possibly the iCloud---iTunes cloud music service. In anticipation, Amazon's been competing even more aggressively to campaign for its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services. Continue after the cut for the roundup video and the pertinent links to everything covered in the video.
Welcome to another edition of the SlashGear Week in Review. Monday we put up our review of the HTC Flyer WiFi tablet. We figure that the tablet will win over many people that want something smaller than the iPad with a pen stylus. Monday reports came in that a third worker had died from injuries sustained in the explosion at the Foxconn plant in China. The explosion is thought to be the result of combustible aluminum dust but the investigation is ongoing.
Google Wallet is only just official, and already it has its first lawsuit. PayPal has sprung out of the gate with accusations that Google used trade secrets gleaned from ex-PayPal employees now working on the Google Wallet project. According to the eBay-owned payments firm, ex-exec Osama Bedier took with him "intimate knowledge of PayPal's capabilities, strategies, plans, and market intelligence" which he disclosed to Google after being recruited by Stephanie Tilenius, previously SVP of North America and Global Products; part of Tilenius' agreement with PayPal was not to recruit its employees over to their new Google taskmasters.
So the major news today was the announcement of the Google Wallet. In an event in NYC, Google and its business partners announced a new point-of-sale ecosystem that will allow users to use their smartphone as their wallet. Combining that with the Google Offers program makes the checkout process as easy as "tap, pay, and save." All this, however, does require a smartphone with an NFC chip. So, what about everyone else that doesn't currently own the Google Nexus S?
On May 26th, 2011, Google announced a partnership with financial groups Citi, MasterCard, and First Data, mobile networks like NXP, Sprint, and Samsung (the last two obvious since their hero device in this project is the Nexus S 4G,) and retail locations like American Eagle, Subway, and Macy's. These partnerships all converge on a single project: Google Wallet. This project is an NFC-based and will rely on several factors to be successful: the participation of major businesses, the ability to have manufacturers add compatible NFC chips to handheld devices, and the confidence of the population Google hopes will adopt the system. But wait a second - will this whole system collapse if it's only on Android phones? Let's have a chat about why Apple and Microsoft [plus RIM and Nokia] must be next on the docket or the entire project may be grounded before it even takes off flying.
![Google Wallet Objects to be the Backbone of the New NFC System, Partners Comment [Video]](https://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Screen-shot-2011-05-26-at-11.54.10-AM_SlashGear.jpg)
Access to Google Wallet will be free to all businesses. That's what Google said on May 26th in New York. This system will be rolled out with a handful of partners including Citi Bank, who noted they were very proud to be the first big rollout partner for the NFC system for payments in the USA. Citi added that they'd be running at this program full tilt, making a real effort to make this program a reality for the entirety of the USA and around the world. MasterCard noted their contributions and items they're excited about to be Pay Pass, real-time communication between the consumer and the network, and the notion that once consumers experience tap-to-pay and see how convenient and nice it is, they never go back.