It’s been a busy week and it’s only Monday. Besides the news regarding an NFC project with MasterCard, Google, VeriFone, and Citi, there’s been the announcement of Serve by AMEX, its answer to PayPal, and the announcement by Apple that no iPhone 5 is due in June. But first to the Google story.
A Wall Street Journal article that broke the news confirms an effort by Google to work with MasterCard, Citi, and VeriFone to bring NFC payments and mobile commerce to the point of sale. Google brings its mobile operating system Android and handset manufacturer partners who are expected to include NFC chipsets in their smartphone devices later this year. It also brings a massive advertising capability and a mobile advertising network. MasterCard brings both brand and a global network of acceptance points. MasterCard-branded Citi card credentials will be on the handsets and VeriFone contactless readers, among others, will accept the transactions.
Google’s making noises that it doesn’t care about the payment transaction itself, leaving the value of that to its payments industry partners. There may be truth in that, too. As the world’s largest advertising provider, Google’s interest is the activity around the payment, the commerce which includes advertising, marketing, coupons, and other incentives. Google plans to be rewarded when its customer, the merchant, makes a sale through Google’s commerce support.
The Google team will go up against Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Discover. And it should prove to be formidable competition. Google search brings an overwhelmingly rich set of tools and content to the merchant and consumer with remarkable possibilities. Tap the smartphone on an NFC tag next to a display of archery equipment and get the specs on the latest gear, the manufacturer incentives, and perhaps a high def video streamed from a YouTube site.
