A couple of weeks ago I spoke about paying for your coffee via cell phone with the Starbucks app. Now Google wants to get in on the action and make it possible to allow you to pay for mostly everything with just the help of your phone, no cash or credit cards required. Using NFC technology (Near field communication) Google wants to help smart phone owners carry fewer things with them while shopping, like a wallet. With thousands of multiple locations that already support NFC technology this is an industry that is only expected to keep growing to “$618 billion by 2016” just like smart phones keeping progressing as well. In addition to being able to pay for things, this technology would allow for consumers to also be able to receive promotions and specials based on their preferences while they are going about their business. This would also help companies and marketers target consumers more directly by learning about their habits and behaviors. It’s convenient so you don’t have to worry about losing your credit card and in a way it can also be a helpful to way to avoid spreading germs with random people at registers since you would be the one touching your phone and nothing else, not money, your credit card or the cashier’s hands.
Many have pondered as to just how safe and secure this option really is, but according to a mobile-transactions analyst at Yankee Group, this technology is actually a more sophisticated than the magnetic stripe from a credit card. This kind of technology makes it more difficult to rob a consumer's information when it comes to payment. Privacy issues are always a sticky situation, but it could be a trade off from sticky bills or cards.
It’s an interesting thing that we’ll simply have to wait and see. Google always seems to give us the right answer when we’re confused about something, now we just have to wait till it helps us search out the maximum benefits here.
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