Google is holding a “partners event” today in the Big Apple, and its been all-but confirmed that the search giant will be launching its NFC payment system, the imaginatively-named Google Wallet , along with some retail partners who will be installing NFC payment systems in their stores for a trial of the new technology.
Google, who seem to pride themselves on not being able to keep a secret, have seen rumours of the new service swirling for months. When Google insisted on the inclusion of NFC technology in its new flagship handset, the Samsung Nexus S, eyebrows were raised.
NFC payment systems in handsets are already used in a few countries, most notably South Korea. In South Korea the NFC payments are all tied to a universal electronic wallet called T-Money, which is majority owned by the Seoul City Government and LG. Google will obviously be hoping that, by getting their foot in the NFC door first, they can establish themselves as the de facto mobile payment standard – however we can’t see the likes of Apple and Microsoft readily accepting a Google-run solution.
Little is known about the system as yet. The financial backend could be handled through Google Checkout, the payment system that powers all purchases on the Android Market and the Chrome Web Store.
Security is also a big concern for contactless payment systems – for example Korea’s T-Money system doesn’t require any kind of authentication in order to be used. The only security assurance you have is by registering your card, and reporting it as stolen to hopefully get back any money you lost.
The big difference between T-Money and Google’s solution is that T-Money cards are preloaded with cash beforehand, meaning even if they are stolen you’ll only lose a bit of cash, no personal data. Without proper security NFC payment users could see themselves the target of muggers – in the same way thieves would target victims sporting Apple’s ubiquitous white headphones. If your wallet is stolen you can call to cancel your cards – but if your wallet is your phone, most likely it will have been used to make purchases before you can call to notify anyone.
It will be interesting to see what kind of solution Google cooks up. The search giant seems to have its finger on the security pulse as of late, so hopefully they can find a solution that is both efficient and secure.
According to This is my next, storage retailer The Container Store is on board with the NFC trials, and you can bet Google will have some other big names to trot out on stage.
The event is taking place at midday New York time.
