Google is all set to pull curtains off its mobile payment service and the likely day of its launch is this Thursday. In the beginning, the
service will be limited to Sprint users in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington DC. Oh and yes, and you need to own a Google Nexus S 4G phone for using this feature, since apart from Nokia C7, Nexus 4G is the only NFC-capable phone up for sale in the United States. The unofficial reports have not specified the retail partners for this service.
Google had been working on this feature for quite some time and had made a couple of acquisitions for this purpose including Zetawire. However, Google is not likely to use Zetawire technology in the first version of this service.
Back in March this year, the Wall Street Journal had reported that Google would be partnering with Citigroup and MasterCard for mobile payment service. It also reportedly spent considerable amount for installing NFC compliant payment systems in San Francisco and New York.
The service will use NFC technology, which is the hottest trend in the mobile market now. There are some rumors that Apple is also looking to outfit its iPhone with NFC technology, but there is no official word on it yet. Though, circumstances point that instead of adopting NFC technology, Apple may come up with its own brand of mobile payment service. NFC technology market is expected to be worth $245 billion by 2014.
Be warned though, Google is also reportedly planning to use the information gathered through its NFC payment service for delivering targeted ads. But probably by now, we all should be just pretty much accustomed to this thing. NFC is not a new technology. It took the technology over a decade to go mainstream. Its journey was mainly marred by intra-industry scuffles and regulatory hindrances. However, future seems bright for the technology now. Here's a toast to credit card-free future!