The next thing a smartphone will replace, if Google has its way, is your credit/debit card. The Wall Street Journal reports that the maker of the Android smartphone operating system is working with Verifone Systems, Inc. (NYSE: PAY) to make the ubiquitous Verifone point-of-sale card readers talk to a smartphone with embedded near-field communication (NFC) technology. And once your credit card goes, your driver’s license could be next.
The technology is similar to RFID, the little tags and stickers that some merchants now put on merchandise to help keep up with inventory. An NFC-enabled Verifone reader would allow customers merely to touch their smartphones on the reader to pay for their purchases. NFC is one-way communication, so the reader wouldn’t be able to transfer anything to the phone.
Paying for things is a good start, but won’t make any money for Google. As usual, Google has bigger ideas. The NFC technology can be embedded in just about anything for a very few cents. Google has already distributed posters with NFC that merchants can post in the store windows and that will allow passers-by to touch the poster with an NFC-enabled phone and get more info about the store or maybe even a coupon to spend right now.
The technology is similar to RFID, the little tags and stickers that some merchants now put on merchandise to help keep up with inventory. An NFC-enabled Verifone reader would allow customers merely to touch their smartphones on the reader to pay for their purchases. NFC is one-way communication, so the reader wouldn’t be able to transfer anything to the phone.
Paying for things is a good start, but won’t make any money for Google. As usual, Google has bigger ideas. The NFC technology can be embedded in just about anything for a very few cents. Google has already distributed posters with NFC that merchants can post in the store windows and that will allow passers-by to touch the poster with an NFC-enabled phone and get more info about the store or maybe even a coupon to spend right now.
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