It’s officially official. Google now owns Softcard, and it’s everything I can do to not smash my face into my keyboard hard enough to erase from my memory the YEARS of debacles and shenanigans that led us up to this point.
Announced on the Google Commerce blog today, Big G is buying out Softcard from T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless. Google Wallet will now come pre-installed on Android handsets sold by these carriers.
This is ultimately good news, but one can’t help but wonder how much further ahead mobile phone payments would have been if we hadn’t witnessed this format war between cell carriers and Google. The two entities dickering around for years, carriers blocking the implementation of NFC Tap & Pay, until they had rolled out a competing “standard” built on differing security protocols. Making relationships with retailers more difficult. It was presciently fitting that the first iteration of Softcard was called ISIS. Only to end up now where we should have been all along.
It’s no wonder Apple was able to roll into this space and instantly dominate the market. Google has their work cut out for them, but at least moving forward they wont have the entire wireless industry digging in their heels and holding them back.
You can read Google’s full press release below.
Continue reading “Google Buys Softcard in the Most Frustrating Mobile Payment Move Possible”
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I’ve already written a cranky editorial about how frustrating it’s been to watch Google and the Carriers repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot over mobile NFC payments. Thankfully, with Google buying out Softcard, we can maybe see some more progress in the retail arena.
