Google’s new Android phone aims to replace credit cards

Not sure why this is being touted as being revolutionary. NFC has been around for a while now with extensive field trials/pilots by multiple stakeholders in the value chain. Also its use cases extend well beyond payments e.g. info dissemination & content transfer/access via coupons


The challenge has largely remained/remains around creating the ecosystem around NFC and in particular the retail network of readers. Its a chicken and egg situation - the phones with NFC chips will come when the retail ecosystem is broad enough and the latter will come when the handsets with the chips are in place. The question now remains as to who will do the grunt work and establish the ecosystem

Emma Barnett, Digital Media

16 Nov 2010

Google's Eric Schmidt has announced a new Android mobile phone that will power mobile payments

“This could replace your credit card,” Schmidt said. “The reason this NFC chip is so interesting is because the credit card industry thinks the loss rate is going to be much better, they’re just more secure.”

Users will need both a phone with an NFC chip and Android’s Gingerbread operating system in order to activate the technology. The near field communication technology allows people to tap their phones on a symbol or an item in the real world to make an action happen, such as a payment. Schmidt said it will it will allow people to “tap and pay”.

Schmidt stressed that Google had no alliances with any retailers and those relationships would be put in place by the credit card companies and retailers independent of the search giant. Instead Google will partner with third party payment processors.

He also said that Google would not retain any personal data obtained through credit card transactions via the phone.

However, despite saying that he could envision this type of mobile technology replacing the credit card, Schmidt would not put a time frame on this migration. Instead he said: “ Who knows? [how long it will take]. I anticipate my credit cards will be around for some time.”

Schmidt was keen to emphasise that NFC technology provides a brand new platform for people to start thinking about new apps, which can use the same “bump for everything” technology, as it was described on stage.