Incremental progress
We've covered the mobile wallet extensively here on mobile-device.biz, and it's one of those epoch-defining tech trends that will continue to evolve at a seemingly glacial pace for years to come.
To recap, the mobile wallet is the convergence of many technologies and commercial agreements to allow you to replace all the functionality of your physical wallet with your mobile phone. Primarily that means paying for stuff, and for this to happen via a handset you need technologies such as NFC and secure silicon, and the involvement of mobile OEMs, banks, retailers and, of course, platform-holders.
The two companies with the greatest influence in the success or failure of the mobile wallet are, unsurprisingly, Apple and Google. Apple may well be set to introduce NFC to the iPhone 5, if the word on the street is anything to go by, but the trail-blazer has been Google.
While Apple tends to launch products and services as a finished product, amid much fanfare and hyperbole, Google prefers more of a ‘public beta' approach, in which an embryonic product is lobbed out into the public domain for Google to see what the world makes of it.
The Google Wallet was unveiled as a concept back in May. Yesterday we got the announcement that you can actually use it to pay for stuff, so long as you own a Citi Mastercard (or Google pre-pay card), a Nexus S 4G, and are a Sprint customer. Oh, and then you have to find a participating retailer. In other words the Google Wallet is currently available to a select few US early adopters.
But that's not to denigrate Google's efforts. You have to start somewhere, and we don't see anyone else - Apple included - doing much to get the mobile wallet going. Google also announced Visa, Discover and American Express have made their NFC specifications available to enable their cards to be added to future versions of Google Wallet.
"Mobile payments are reaching a tipping point in Europe: we believe that 2012 will be the year that new payment technologies such as mobile and contactless achieve mainstream consumer acceptance," said Peter Ayliffe, CEO of Visa Europe.
"That day is approaching rapidly. In recent months we've taken major steps towards widespread contactless rollout; we now have over 70,000 contactless terminals in the UK and a total of 150,000 around Europe. By the end of 2011, there will be over 30 million contactless Visa cards in circulation across Europe.
"For London 2012, for the first time at an Olympic and Paralympic Games, we will be implementing contactless payment technology across the event venues. Earlier this year we also announced a partnership with Samsung to launch an exclusive contactless-enabled Olympics handset, allowing consumers to make mobile payments throughout London 2012."
That's about it for now, except for the customary vid. Incidentally, the most voted-up comment on its YouTube page is: "Yeah and what happens when your battery runs out." Good point!
