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Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, AmEx and Discover

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Re: Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, AmEx and Discover

#51
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sprint and Google have been very friendly recently[1], so it could just be an exclusivity thing. What I'm more curious about is why none of Sprint's other, more recent Android phones have NFC in them- I just picked up a Photon yesterday sans NFC, and I'm led to believe that the EVO 3D and the Epic 4G Touch don't have it either. (Which is particularly weird for the E4GT, because the other Galaxy S II variants in the U…

It's pricey and often complicated to incorporate NFC at this stage. The phones that have it so far are more like experimental/reference platforms than anything else. When NFC is available on combo chips it will be everywhere, and manufacturers are just starting to commit properly now - Samsung and Acer have indicated all their future smartphones will have NFC within the last few days, BlackBerry is going the same way…

Well Nokia has definitely committed to NFC early on. All their recent smartphones have NFC, and all future models will have it. There's the device list: http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications...

Also their recent accessories support bluetooth pairing with NFC, with single tap.

Re: Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, AmEx and Discover

#52
post #36

Nothing of value to add, just noticing that that taxi customer just paid with his Google wallet and left no tip. How is that even possible? And second, I think Google should have learned better after the Google+ soon-to-become-fiasco that using geeks and other people like us to market their products isn't that much of an appealing offer to "normal"-looking potential clients/customers.

It's entirely possible to pay a tip using a card. How would this be any different?

Re: Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, AmEx and Discover

#53
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is an awesome point I didn't even consider. I use AndroidLost and am able to remote wipe my phone at anytime from a browser. Now that I think about it, I would much rather be able to use my phone for payments with this ability, than to carry a physical card and risk losing it or leaving it somewhere. Yes I make backups of my phone using custom recovery ( clockworkMod Recovery).

You know you have your credit card blocked with one phone call, right? And that those not relay on it being on and having internet connection.

I have three credit cards, and two gift cards in there. That's a minimum of three calls, the numbers for which I have to find and call and sit through what is probably an automated system.

Sure, it's a first world problem. But that's where I live, and those are the problems I'd like solved.

Re: Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, AmEx and Discover

#54
post #2

This could, and should be the future. Will it be? Probably not for a while, mostly because Visa and AMEX will launch their own competitive products. Stores will be forced to make a choice as to which system they support. Google will scream for everyone to adopt their "open" system while everyone else will complain about Google wanting to be a monopoly in this new field. The feds will intervene and we'll see years of…

I think it is the future and it will probably not take 10-20 years to have it implemented but rather more like 2-5 years. The race to become the platform is more important than the legal issues surrounding it. Whoever wins in this race will hold so many chips that they will gladly pay any legal speeding ticket. The merchants will get on board quickly as it will increase sales. I don't think Visa and Amex will compete…

American Express is largely a transaction company; they make a tidy income on their lending activities, but their largest source of revenue is the "discount revenue", the fees they charge merchants for accepting each transaction. Their card fees combined with other commissions are also, in aggregate, larger than their net lending income.

http://about.americanexpress.com/ar/2010/financial_results.a...

Click on "Consolidated Financial Statements".

So I'm sure they are happy to jump into a system like this that facilitates using their systems for the transaction, but they will mightily resist anything that tries to replace them directly.

Re: Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, AmEx and Discover

#55
post #48
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. This is going back a couple of steps in some regards. Assuming every store in the country already had this, I still wouldn't bite. I've had so many instances where my phone (Nexus s) died in the middle of the day, it is not funny. Credit card + 2x20 dollar bills in my wallet work wonders. That said, I'm a big fan of Visa's blink. Instant payment can be done through ways other than a smartphone.

NFC payments can still work when your phone is out of battery. The reader can still read it (just like your credit card has no power). Google Wallet, of course, wouldn't work.

I thought there was some intelligent circuitry in place to prevent some threat scenarios. Specifically, I'm thinking of "butt sniffing". At Google IO, I thought we were told that you can't use the NFC function when the screen is locked. Am I mistaken? (I might be ... because the Google folks keep talking about a sticker for phones that don't have NFC ... I don't get it ... an explanation would be appreciated).
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