Despite the hype about mobile payment services, they still haven’t quite reached the level of being mainstream just yet.
Google Wallet, for example, only functions on one type of smartphone, the Sprint Nexus S, and is only available to customers who have a Citibank MasterCard or Google prepaid card. However, Google is pushing that service a great deal more, having already recently announced that it will be replacing Google Checkout, which is being gradually phased out. That service is compatible with both online payments and in-store payments where the device is used with a tap-to-pay reader.
Google Checkout users are already being advised that their accounts have been changed to Google Wallet accounts. The data – such as credit cards – that was stored in a Google Checkout account will automatically become available with the new Google Wallet account.
That said, there is a tremendous amount of competition already building in the mobile payment sector. It is therefore not believed that this holiday season will be a big one for paying in-store with a mobile device.
In the years to come, however, a larger number of smartphones in the United States will include near field communication (NFC), which allows for several types of wave-to-pay and tap-to-pay possibilities to their users. ISIS, a competing mobile phone system based on NFC, will also be launched in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Austin, Texas, next year.
American retailers are much slower to embrace ISIS than those in other regions around the world, for one primary reason: the expense. Installing the point-of-sale equipment to read NFC transactions comes with a high price tag and it must be integrated with the checkout systems.