From InfoWorld: The tap-and-pay mobile payments market in the U.S. is getting a little less confusing.
On Monday, Google said it had reached a deal with three of the country's major cellular carriers to acquire "technology and capabilities" from Softcard, a competing mobile wallet app developed jointly by the carriers. But the deal appears to be less about technology and more about branding.
The biggest immediate change is that Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile will begin preinstalling Google Wallet on new Android smartphones later this year -- something that had been blocked before in preference for the Softcard app.
At their heart, both apps are based on the same contactless payment technology as Apple Pay and a new generation of payment cards from banks and credit unions. They use NFC (near-field communication) to complete a transaction once a payment card or phone is brought within a few centimeters of a terminal.
Apple Pay brought the technology widespread recognition when it launched late last year, but Google Wallet has been around since 2011. However a lack of support from carriers, retailers, card issuers and Google itself had relegated the technology to the sidelines.
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