YOU ARE AT:Mobile MinuteSoftcard surrenders to Google (RCR Mobile Minute)

Softcard surrenders to Google (RCR Mobile Minute)

AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US will install Google Wallet on their Android phones, and will sell intellectual property from their own mobile payments venture to Google. Softcard, the mobile payments app created by these carriers, will continue to work on the phones on which it is already installed. (Softcard was previously called Isis Mobile Wallet.)

Google and the carriers have been at odds with each other over mobile payments for some time, both jockeying for position on Android phones. Apple’s iPhones have Apple Pay, and that is probably the reason Google and the carriers have joined forces. Another threat is Samsung, which said earlier this month that it will buy Loop Pay for mobile payments.

Mobile payments matter a lot, for the carriers and for Google. The mobile operators see commerce and loyalty cards as a way to move beyond the connectivity business, which is becoming increasingly commoditized and is under pressure from both Washington, D.C., and the cable industry. Delivering their subscribers to retailers is a significant opportunity for the carriers.

For Google, mobile payments is a logical extension of its core business: advertising. With the Google search engine, Google Maps and Google Wallet, the software giant can find consumers the products they want, direct them to the place to buy those products and offer the retailer valuable information about those consumers.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Martha DeGrasse
Martha DeGrassehttp://www.nbreports.com
Martha DeGrasse is the publisher of Network Builder Reports (nbreports.com). At RCR, Martha authored more than 20 in-depth feature reports and more than 2,400 news articles. She also created the Mobile Minute and the 5 Things to Know Today series. Prior to joining RCR Wireless News, Martha produced business and technology news for CNN and Dow Jones in New York and managed the online editorial group at Hoover’s Online before taking a number of years off to be at home when her children were young. Martha is the board president of Austin's Trinity Center and is a member of the Women's Wireless Leadership Forum.