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Print 10 comment(s) - last by OCedHrt.. on May 25 at 9:23 PM

  (Source: digitaltrends.com)
Partners with Sprint, allows for purchases via NFC-equipped smartphones

Google may unveil its near-field-communications (NFC) mobile-payment system in New York as soon as tomorrow, Bloomberg reports.

Back in March, Google was expected to begin testing its mobile-payment system, which allows select Android users to ring up purchases with a tap of their smartphone, within four months time.  

But that timeframe could be cut in half if three unnamed sources for Bloomberg have their information correct. The people familiar with the matter said Google would be unveiling the service May 26, in partnership with Sprint. The Nexus S, for one, would be compatible with the program. 

In addition to paying for goods with a tap of a mobile device, NFC, which relies on a short-range wireless signal, would also allow customers to redeem coupons directly from their devices as they check out at the register.

VeriFone Systems Inc. and ViVOtech Inc. have been tapped by Google to provide software and hardware for the service, according to two Bloomberg sources. 

While Google was expected to begin rolling out the new technology in five cities — New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. — invitations for a press event tomorrow in New York have been reported, fueling the speculation. 

Representatives from Google and Sprint declined comment.

But Google is not the only player in the NFC field. It will face stiff competition from the likes of Apple, as well as ISIS, a joint partnership between the other three major U.S. wireless carriers.

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Hmm the irony...
By Smartless on 5/25/2011 4:43:41 PM , Rating: 3
I have my credit card company numbers on my phone so I can dial them to cancel a card if I've lost my wallet or something. I lose my phone, it runs out of charge, or I break it, I'm worse off then losing my wallet.




RE: Hmm the irony...
By icanhascpu on 5/25/2011 5:24:53 PM , Rating: 1
Then maybe you shouldn't lose it and keep it charged. That would be smart....oh wait.


RE: Hmm the irony...
By OCedHrt on 5/25/2011 9:23:35 PM , Rating: 2
Asia (at least Japan, Taiwan, HK) has been doing this for years. I don't think people have issues with losing their NFC devices. And, it's possible for NFC to work without device power if it can function passively. And if you lose it you just have to get a new NFC linked to your account. The NFC is just providing an identification anyways, your cash is not actually stored on the NFC chip.


"cashless society control grid"
By Shadowmaster625 on 5/25/11, Rating: -1
RE: "cashless society control grid"
By Flunk on 5/25/2011 9:37:13 AM , Rating: 3
You sound totally paranoid. The government already totally controls the value of hard currency. It's not as if a totally electronic system would actually give them any more power.

The only reason Google is doing this is because there is a lot of money in this sort of "easy" transaction system. There is no ulterior motive, they just want to make heaps and heaps of money.


RE: "cashless society control grid"
By TSS on 5/25/2011 9:58:44 AM , Rating: 1
Hah the government has no control over your currency. The Federal Reserve does, and the federal reserve is a private institution , not a public one.

Banks also create money by lending money to consumers and eachother. When you lend $1000 from a bank, that $1000 comes out of nothing. Nowehere. They just type it into a computer.

Not to mention you then spend that money, meaning somebody else gets it and puts it in their account, which'll then form the legal basis of up to 9 times that amount, or $9000, that the bank can then lend out to somebody else! Banks control the money, not the government.

I agree with google doing it for the money though. Their probably after the transaction fees. I wouldn't worry about your transactions being tracked either that ship has long since sailed.


RE: "cashless society control grid"
By Flunk on 5/25/2011 10:23:53 AM , Rating: 2
Really? I was under the impression that the Federal Reserve was run by a board of Presidentially approved governors and was subject to congressional oversight.

quote:
Banks also create money by lending money to consumers and eachother. When you lend $1000 from a bank, that $1000 comes out of nothing. Nowehere. They just type it into a computer.


This statement doesn't make sense. Banks finance loans with the money they hold in checking, savings and investments. If your statement were true the banking system would collapse entirely.

I'm not even going to describe how stupid your 9x the money comment is.


By wranglerangler on 5/25/2011 11:01:59 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Really? I was under the impression that the Federal Reserve was run by a board of Presidentially approved governors and was subject to congressional oversight.


The Fed has always been at the beck and call of big business. There is practically no government oversight, and only since the recent economic collapse have calls to audit and/or oversee the Fed been viewed as anything other than fringe politics. The Fed creates monetary policy with virtually no accountability to the American people.

quote:
This statement doesn't make sense. Banks finance loans with the money they hold in checking, savings and investments. If your statement were true the banking system would collapse entirely.


The statement doesn't seem make sense, but it's not really wrong. Banks are only required to have liquid assets that cover a small portion of their obligations. This is called fractional-reserve banking and it does, in fact, basically allow banks to create money.


By seraphim1982 on 5/25/2011 11:02:24 AM , Rating: 2
Just because the President appoints someone to the Fed Reserve, it DOES NOT means that it is a part of the American Gov, because it is not.

What he said is partially true, the money is there, although the debt associated with the lending of this money comes from nowhere, just as the debt associated with the money borrowed from the Federal Reserve.


RE: "cashless society control grid"
By Fritzr on 5/25/2011 1:52:28 PM , Rating: 2
Electronic cash already exists and you very likely use it on a day to day basis.

Direct Deposit: An instruction is given to a bank to withdraw the money from the source account and deposit it in the target account.

Debit Card: You grant permission to the vendor to request an electronic transfer from your bank account to theirs.

Credit Card: Similar to Debit Card except the money is transferred from the bank's cash reserves and a matching amount is added to the loan you are obligated to repay.

This new device is simply a Debit Card type transaction using a short range radio and cellphone. The only thing new about this is the equipment used to authorize a Debit Card/Credit Card transaction.

However this is being rolled out by Google. Given Google's track record of flawless operation and secure systems I will not be using this new payment system until a non-Google system exists and has a proven history :D

Banks do not create money. The Federal government does that by authorizing printing and distribution of cash in excess of what has been retired.

A bank asks depositers to hold money for them. They may even pay depositers who do this (interest earning accounts).

These deposits can then be loaned to others who need extra money for various reasons. The bank loans the money that has been given to them by depositers. The repayment the bank asks is the amount borrowed plus a fee (interest rate).

The fees paid for borrowed money and the various fees the bank charges for services are used to pay salaries, stockholder dividends and the money paid on deposits that depositers have given the bank to hold.

The minimum amount the bank is required to keep in cash reserves is meant to ensure that if a depositer asks for the money they put on deposit, there will be enough to pay that demand without the bank taking a loan.

Interbank loans to cover demands exceeding what an individual bank can cover that day are a part of the system and that is one of the purposes of the Federal Reserve Banks. The Feds do not make loans to the public. They make loans ONLY to banks that are part of the Federal Reserve system.

Money in itself has no value at all. Money is used as a simple method of allowing payments to be tracked. Instead of making payments with eggs, chickens,cows, ducks, your work, you assign an arbitrary value in trade credits to each and then you can trade by exchanging trade credits instead of things or effort.

Everytime something new is built or effort is expended to make something more valuable, or a professional is paid to make use of their skills money is "created". When an item of value is destroyed, then money is destroyed. Our systems of currency simply track these transactions.

Inflation occurs when the number of trade cedits for an item goes up (doctor decides to take a higher salary, the farmer decides to raise the price of eggs by 3% of the trade credits they were charging...these are inflation)

Deflation is the opposite. Mild inflation is good. This encourages people to trade the credits they just received before they lose enough of their value to matter. High inflation on the other hand causes people to abandon the trading credit system and simply start paying in goods (barter)

Deflation causes the value of trade credits to increase. This encourages people to gather trade credits and then not use them. The way our economy works this is a bad thing as sellers no longer have an income that they can use to pay their expenses with.

Inflation is a good thing unless you try to hold cash as it encourage people to produce trade goods and trade vigorously. The banking system offers a way to hold trade credits for long terms without losing value by paying interest on the trade credits you allow them to use for loans while you are not using the trade credits.

Different kinds of trade credits (euro, US dollar, Mex peso, kroner, etc.) have values set by their economies. As different economies change the value of goods, the equivalent value of the different trading credits change. Exchange rates can be measured in chickens, cows, bread, gold, silver or other item traded on a regular basis, but they are normally posted as percentage of another trading credit (exchange rate)

No mystery and aside from the occasional shady stock or currency trader, no real conspiracy

This is extremely simplified. The "science" of economics deals with the complexities that real life adds to this :)


"Google fired a shot heard 'round the world, and now a second American company has answered the call to defend the rights of the Chinese people." -- Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.)











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