Google Wallet is coming on at least 10 additional Sprint Android smartphones in 2012, Osama Bedier, vice president of Google Wallet and payments, said at Mobile World Congress.
Google
(NASDAQ:GOOG) Wallet is going to be available on as many as 10 new Sprint
(NYSE:S) phones in 2012, according to the creator of the mobile payment
service.
Wallet is an application users may download from
Google's Android Market. The program works in concert with near-field
communication (NFC) sensors, allowing users to tap and pay for goods at
checkout counters in retail stores such as Macy's and American Eagle
Outfitters.
Wallet has
seen little adoption because it has only been available on Sprint's
Android-based Samsung Nexus S smartphone since the service launched in New York
and San Francisco last September. Sprint will support Wallet on its Samsung
Galaxy Nexus when that handset is available later this year.
The payment service has also experienced some bad
press after security researchers last month revealed how Wallet can be hacked.
Osama Bedier, vice president of Google Wallet and payments,
argued that Wallet is very secure.
It was Bedier
who
promised at Mobile World Congress March 1 that
U.S. consumers can expect Wallet to arrive on "at least 10 additional
phones" this year. In addition to the Galaxy Nexus, this will include the
LG Viper.
FierceMobileContent
also noted that Bedier said
Google remains in talks with other operators, device OEMs, banks, financial
service firms and point-of-sale technology vendors on Wallet.
That should
certainly boost Wallet's availability and profile among consumers looking to
buy new Android smartphones this year.
Wallet's
profile should also get a boost from AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile's
forthcoming Isis mobile payment joint venture. That service will go live this
year in field tests in Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City.
Yet mobile
experts would argue Wallet's biggest problem isn't narrow availability,
security or competition. Rather, it's the lack of impetus to get people to use
their smartphones to pay for goods. NFC-based payments are simply an unproven
market in the U.S. at this time.
Google
believes it has incentive for users to flock to Wallet with Google Offers.
Offers is the company's Groupon clone service that entices consumers with
discounts of 50 percent off or more for goods and services. Offers is live in
dozens of cities around the country.
However, it is
unclear how popular the service is.
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