• Google Wallet Announced, Your Phone is Your Wallet

    // Gradly // blog, Featured, google, Mobile, News, Tech. No Responses

    At an event today, Google, Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint announced and demonstrated Google Wallet, an app that will make your phone your wallet so you can tap, pay and save money and time while you shop.

    Today, we’ve joined with leaders in the industry to build the next generation of mobile commerce,” said Stephanie Tilenius, vice president, commerce and payments, Google. “With Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint we’re building an open commerce ecosystem that for the first time will make it possible for you to pay with an NFC wallet and redeem consumer promotions all in one tap, while shopping offline.

    At launch, Google Wallet will support payments with two payment solutions: a PayPass eligible Citi MasterCard and a virtual Google Prepaid card. Most people who already have a PayPass eligible Citi MasterCard can simply add it to Google Wallet over the air, using First Data’s trusted service manager service. Or, they can fund the Google Prepaid card with any payment card.

    Google Wallet uses near field communication (NFC) to make secure payments fast and convenient by simply tapping the phone on any PayPass-enabled terminal at checkout.

    MasterCard has pioneered mobile payments with our PayPass technology and we’re proud that it is at the heart of Google Wallet,” said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer, MasterCard. “We’re excited to partner with these industry leaders today and committed to continuing to play a leadership role in the development of mobile payment technologies.

    Google Wallet is currently in a field test and will be available to consumers this summer. The first release of Google Wallet is expected to be released on the Nexus S 4G on the Sprint network. Additional devices with NFC capabilities will follow.

  • iPhone 5 Will Not have Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPhone, News, Rumors, Tech. No Responses

    Apple has informed their European iPhone carriers that the next-generation iPhone, as the Independent states, will not include Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Apple is reluctant to include the technology and introduce a new “wave and pay” system due a “lack of a clear standard across the industry.”

    The iPhone 5 not having NFC technology does not mean Apple isn’t working on their own NFC service for a 2012 launch.

    Apple is understood to be working on its own NFC proposition, which would link payments through iTunes. It hopes to introduce the technology in a handset likely to be released next year.

    Apple was rumored to include this NFC technology in their just released iPad 2, and that same report from Bloomberg noted the iPhone 5, too, will include the NFC technology.

  • iPad 2 to Have Carbon Fiber Shell, NFC, 7-inch variety?

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPad, Rants & Raves No Responses

    We’ve heard about NFC but iLounge floats two more very interesting, here what they had to say:

    A previously accurate source has provided iLounge with some interesting new details on Apple’s ongoing iPad development efforts, cautioning that some of the information is very preliminary. Here’s what we’ve heard.

    1. RFID/NFC Accessories: According to our source, Apple is actively developing new accessories that will communicate with the near-field radio chips reportedly built into new iPads and iPhones. In the most basic implementation, an accessory could announce its presence and potential functions to an iPad or iPhone without the need for a Bluetooth or similar connection; our source suggests that an otherwise simple case could include a radio chip so that an inserted iPhone or iPad could go into power-saving hibernation mode automatically. More complex accessories will go far beyond that.

    2. A New Body Material: While our source urges caution on this point, it’s possible that the company will use a new material similar to carbon fiber rather than aluminum for upcoming iPads. Apple has already applied for a patent on this, and apparently second-generation iPad shells made from the new material have already been spotted. Apple has in the past worked simultaneously on more than one version of a device enclosure before making a late-stage switch to another, but it is apparently testing these new shells now in the hopes of reducing the weight of iPads.

    3. The 7-inch iPad Lives: While Apple apparently decided to scuttle the 7” version of the iPad it was working on last year, our source notes that a key iPad, iPhone, and iPod component provider has been asked by Apple to develop a part for use in a seven-inch iPad. Our source believes that this part is for a new version of the device that is still in development, and doesn’t know whether it will go into production. The request suggests, however, that Apple is continuing to keep the idea of a smaller-screened iPad alive despite having pooh-poohed competing 7”-screened devices as “tweeners.”

    Our source recommends that you take all of this with the requisite grains of salt. We wanted to share it because it was intriguing.

  • Apple to Add NFC Payments to iPad 2 and iPhone 5?

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves No Responses

    Bloomberg claims that Apple will be incorporating NFC (Near Field Communication) hardware in the next iPhone and iPad. This feature would allow customers to use the iPhone and iPad to make purchases:

    The services are based on “Near-Field Communication,” a technology that can beam and receive information at a distance of up to 4 inches, due to be embedded in the next iteration of the iPhone for AT&T Inc. and the iPad 2, Doherty said. Both products are likely to be introduced this year, he said, citing engineers who are working on hardware for the Apple project.
    Apple could potentially tie this payment system into people’s existing iTunes accounts. It’s described to allow customers to walk into a store and make payments directly from their iOS device. Apple may also incorporate loyalty rewards and credit system in iTunes as well. Other possibilities include using location based transactions to improve iAd targeting.

    According to this source, Apple has already made prototype payment terminals intended for small businesses to scan NFC-enabled iPhones and iPads. These terminals could be subsidized or even given away to encourage adoption.

    Apple has been hiring NFC experts as well as applied for several patents on the technology. A couple of previous reports have also pegged the next generation iPhone as having NFC technology built in.