From CNET: Softcard, the carrier-backed mobile payments initiative, is shutting down its app after striking a deal to help expand the reach of Google's mobile payments system.
The joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile announced Wednesday it would disable its mobile app and close all customer accounts on March 31. As part of the deal announced last month, Google acquired Softcard's technology, while the US carriers agreed to load the Google Wallet app onto Android smartphones running KitKat or higher in their stores later this year.
The closure comes amid intensifying competition for mobile payments, the ability to pay for goods and services with a smartphone. On Monday, Google took the wraps off a mobile payment service called Android Pay that will compete with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, a service unveiled Sunday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Previously known as Isis, the initiative was formed by wireless carriers in 2010. After years of testing, it launched nationwide in 2013 on Android smartphones, using near-field communications, or NFC, a technology that uses an embedded chip to talk with compatible registers.
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