J
Joseph Proffer
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Paying for merchandise using your smartphone via Near Field Communication (NFC) is all the buzz these days since Apple Pay was launched. A lot of people in the media gloss over the fact that Google’s Wallet app on Android has given us this capability for quite a while now, though. Despite this oversight in media coverage, one beneficial thing does come out of it: the momentum generated by Apple Pay should help Google with retailers that were initially hesitant in supporting mobile-based payments.
Apple Pay and Google Wallet aren’t the only products on the field, however. One company that is also offering the same NFC payment services is Softcard, formerly branded as Isis Mobile Wallet. (The name change was due to the company not wanting to be even remotely associated with the militant terror organization named ISIS.) Similar to Google Wallet, Softcard has been struggling to make headway in the payment sector, but unlike Wallet, Softcard has lacked the financial backing needed to keep it afloat while it waits for retailers to catch up.
Google, who has not really put a lot of work into making Wallet a bigger game-changer, is rumored to be eyeing Softcard for acquisition in an attempt to bolster Wallet’s weak offering to Android consumers. Softcard does have a few perks in its portfolio, which Google may find appetizing.
Softcard is a joint venture project by mobile carriers T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. The company also has strong relationships with Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, who have helped Softcard butter-up quite a few retailers in recent years to accept its mobile payment product. Google may find these joint ventures especially enticing because, up until now, it really has been going it alone in the mobile payments space. Notably, American Express has expressed that it will not participate in Google Wallet.
TechCrunch has reported that Softcard also possesses approximately 120 patents and pending patent applications. Similar to the reason behind Google’s acquisition of Motorola, there may be a Softcard patent that Google feels like it can’t live without.
When Google was approached by TechCrunch for a comment on the Softcard talks, the Mountain View search giant gave a rather humorous reply: “We don’t have a comment, background, deep background, off the record steer, nod, wink or any other verbal or non-verbal response to these sorts of rumors.”
Google hasn’t been the only company that is rumored to be approaching Softcard. The joint venture companies AT&T and Verizon have been named as possible buyers, as well as a familiar name in the payments sector: PayPal. Even Microsoft has been rumored to have approached Softcard. I also would not be surprised to hear that Samsung is keeping a close watch on Softcard, as previous reports have indicated that Samsung is looking to create its own NFC payment competitor.
So as Apple builds up a juggernaut with Apple Pay, will we see Google Wallet rise to challenge the competition? Or will it need to at all? Time will tell.
Source: TechCrunch
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