VERIZON INTRODUCES GOPAYMENT CREDIT CARD READER FOR TABLETS AND PHONES

In partnership with Intuit, Verizon Wireless introduced a mobile payment solution for small and medium businesses called GoPayment. The service will provide customers with a small credit card reader and a mobile application that allows businesses to charge credit cards using a smartphone or tablet. Here’s how it works: a business simply needs to plug the card reader into the 3.5mm audio jack of a tablet or smartphone. Cards can then be swiped and payments are processed immediately. Verizon Wireless says the credit card reader and application are supported on Android, iOS and BlackBerry. The GoPayment credit card reader is free with a GoPayment account and after a $29.97 mail-in rebate. Intuit takes a 2.7% cut of swiped transactions on free GoPayment accounts but customers who sign up for a $12.95 monthly option can pay a lower 1.7% per-transaction rate.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES GOOGLE WALLET

Putting to bed months of rumors, Google on Thursday announced an "open" NFC-based mobile payments ecosystem that lets users pay for items by tapping their phone against a payment reader.

"Your phone will be your wallet. Just tap, pay, and save," said Stephanie Tilenius, Google's VP of Commerce, announcing the platform at the Google Partner event in New York.
'Google Wallet' is a free Android app that securely stores multiple credit cards, or a Google prepaid card linked to your credit card (one that Google provides). When opened on an NFC-enabled smartphone, you can tap your phone against a supported payment reader and the item you want to purchase is instantly charged to your credit card.

Field tests are already in place in New York and San Francisco, but when it launches commercially this summer Google Wallet will work on Sprint's Nexus S 4G, MasterCard credit cards issued by Citi, and at retailers equipped with Mastercard's PayPass terminals. The transactions will be processed by First Data, an Atlanta-based company.

Retailers who've signed up include Walgreens, Subway, Toys "R" Us, American Eagle Outfitters, and Macy's.

At the event Osama Bedier, a former PayPal exec and currently Google's VP of Payments, demonstrated the end-to-end consumer experience with a skit about buying denim shorts for his daughter.

First, Bedier opened the Google Wallet app on his Nexus S and agreed to the Terms and Conditions. He then attached his Google Wallet to a Google account, entered a PIN number to open the wallet, and filled out a form to link his Citi credit card account to the app.
Then Bedier stepped into American Eagle Outfitters store (use your imagination), where Beth McCormick, senior director of customer systems at AEO, joined the stage and handed him a pair of American Eagle's MIDI shorts. Bedier brought the shorts to a PayPass terminal, tapped his smartphone against it, signed his name, and "left" the store.

Bedier called this "Single Tap" but in reality, it's more of a tap-sign transaction.

ORANGE AND BARCLAYCARD LAUNCH NFC MOBILE PAYMENTS IN UK

Mobile carrier Orange is today launching the UK's first mobile phone contactless payment service, dubbed Quick Tap, for purchases up to £15. It works on MasterCard's PayPass system and requires you to have a Barclays debit or credit card or, alternatively, a credit card from Orange itself.

Gemalto is providing the SIM-based NFC compatibility, with Samsung's entirely unrevolutionary Tocco Lite being the (admittedly affordable) launch handset. Then you just need to trust the Quick Pay app to be as secure as promised and you'll be ready to go off and use your phone as a payment terminal at over 50,000 locations, including joints run by McDonald's, Eat, Pret A Manger, Subway, and Wilkinson.

ISIS MOBILE PAYMENT SYSTEM TO WORK WITH MASTERCARD & VISA, SHELVES OWN SYSTEM

When AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon came together to create the Isis mobile payment system, they touted a standalone service, powered by Discover's payment network, that would revolutionize the way we make small purchases on the move. Well, the revolution is still on schedule, apparently, but the big trio is now being said to have made a concession in reaching out to the incumbent leaders in this field, Visa and MasterCard.

The Wall Street Journal cites multiple sources in reporting that Isis has turned into a less ambitious "mobile wallet" project that would seek to let you use your Visa or MasterCard account via your NFC-capable smartphone. As far as the consumer is concerned, it's still the same swipe-to-buy proposition, but the move was apparently necessary for Isis "to avoid falling further behind" in the race to corner this developing market.

GOOGLE TEAMS WITH MASTERCARD AND CITIGROUP FOR NFC PAYMENTS

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google's secretly partnered with MasterCard and Citigroup to test out a mobile payment system using NFC (Near Field Communications). According to the publication, the early demo pairs "one current model and many coming models of Android phones" with existing Citigroup-sponsored credit and debit cards, and is using the phones' NFC chips with those VeriFone readers we recently reported about.

What's more, a newly-published patent application from the crew in Mountain View may hint at the software behind such things. The application describes a service that sets up Google as a third-party broker who receives the shopping cart info of customers placing orders via a device (including those of the mobile variety), allows them to select shipping and other options, and provides the total order cost. It then collects payment, coordinates shipment, and forwards order information to the seller to complete the transaction. So companies can have Google handle all their payment-taking needs in return for getting a sneak peek at what folks are buying -- something that the WSJ's sources say might be a component of the setup Google's testing right now -- as opposed to other third-party services, like Paypal, that only obtain and exchange payment info with merchants. Looks like Alma Whitten (Google's Director of Privacy) has her work cut out assuaging the concerns such a system will inevitably create in an increasingly privacy-minded populace.

GOOGLE TESTING ANDROID PAYMENT SYSTEM

Near Field Communications, or NFC, is widely believed to be the next big thing in mobile. The chips allow the possibility of your phone talking to other mobile devices securely and through encryption at a limited range, opening the door to mobile payment: for example, the ability to pay for a subway token by waving your smartphone in front of the turnstile, or your groceries by waving your phone across the cash register.

According to internet scuttlebutt, Apple is very interested in introducing NFC technology in the next iPhone… but it appears that Google will beat them to the punch, as they are now testing the mobile payment technology by installing thousands of VeriFone NFC readers at merchants in New York and San Francisco.

According to Bloomberg, Google’s test would combine a consumer’s financial account information, gift-card balances, store loyalty cards and coupon subscriptions on a single NFC chip on an Android phone. The test is expected to begin in the next four months, although there’s no official confirmation.

This isn’t a big surprise. Google introduced NFC support in Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and the Samsung Nexus S already boasts an NFC chip, making it possible to pay at NFC-capable terminals.

This is a big deal, and for once, Google’s ahead of Apple. Your choice of smartphone could someday soon be the equivalent of your choice in credit cards, and Google has beaten Apple to the ground in this race. They’ll be testing their payment system sooner, giving them even more of a chance of amassing a dominant share of the nascent market before Apple does.

RUMOR: iPHONE 5 WILL NOT HAVE NFC

In direct contradiction to earlier rumors, insiders at some UK carriers are claiming that iPhone 5 will NOT have near field communications (NFC) capabilities. That intel is reportedly coming directly from meetings with the Cupertino brain trust, which is said to be dissatisfied with the current lack of a clear, universal NFC standard. It's generally been Apple's wont to omit or delay features it doesn't feel it can implement well, and NFC looks fated to be another one on that list.

SQUARE AND VERIFONE TAKE SWIPES AT EACH OTHER

Earlier this week VeriFone CEO, Douglas G. Bergeron, wrote an open letter and created a YouTube video declaring that consumers were in “dire risk” because of competitor Square’s card reader. Although the accused company did not respond to requests for comment yesterday, Square’s CEO has published a letter of his own, downplaying VeriFone’s concerns, while taking the proverbial high-road.

“Any technology—an encrypted card reader, phone camera, or plain old pen and paper—can be used to ‘skim’ or copy numbers from a credit card,” writes Jack Dorsey, Square’s CEO. “The waiter you hand your credit card to at a restaurant, for example, could easily steal your card details if he wanted to—no technology required.”

The letter goes on to reassure Square users that the company is “constantly improving the payment experience to enhance security” and that it’s partner bank, JPMorgan Chase, “stands behind every aspect” of the company’s service.

GIRL SCOUTS IN OHIO TAKING MOBILE PAYMENTS FOR COOKIES

Short on cash but wishing you could stock up on Girl Scout cookies? Then you no longer have an excuse -- at least if you're in Northeast Ohio -- as the local Girl Scout group there has teamed up with Intuit to accept credit cards using the company's GoPayment app (and accompanying card reader) for iOS and Android. What's more, while the Ohio group is the first to sign up, Intuit is now also extending the same offer (which includes reduced transaction fees) to Girl Scout organizations across the US.

BANK OF AMERICA TRIALING MOBILE WALLET PAYMENT PROGRAM

According to a BGRsource, Bank of America has started inviting select customers to trial its new Mobile Wallet payment service program based on NFC technology. This technology allows users to pay for purchases by waving their mobile phone in front of a receiver.

The program only works with BlackBerry smartphones at this point, and in order to make your existing phone NFC-capable, Bank of America is sending testers a new battery cover in addition to a microSD card. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 and 8530; BlackBerry Bold 9000, 9650 and 9700; and BlackBerry Tour 9630 are all supported devices. Payments can be made at any location where Mastercard’s PayPass is accepted, and the program will become active very shortly “this Spring.”