Google Wallet, a new near-field communications (NFC) based payment system created by Google in partnership with MasterCard and a number of additional partners, is now available on Sprint’s Nexus S 4G. Google Nexus S users on AT&T and T-Mobile are left out in the cold for now. MasterCard confirmed that an over-the-air update is being pushed to the Nexus S 4G on Monday that will automatically install the Google Wallet app. Once it is installed, users can enter in their MasterCard information and use t...

Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile have made a $100 million investment in ISIS, a joint venture created by the three carriers to fuel the growth of mobile payments. The investment has been largely viewed as an attempt to bolster ISIS’ business to better compete against Google and its own mobile payment system, Google Wallet. “Over the long haul, operators have to create new businesses that derive value from more than access,” wireless analyst Chetan Sharma told Bloomberg. “It̵...

Thanks to royalty payments from awards related to patent complaints against HTC, Microsoft is estimated to have made three times more revenue from sales of HTC’s Android phones than it did from sales of Windows Phone licenses last quarter. Asymco analyst Horace Dediu estimated this past May that Microsoft had made five times more money from HTC’s Android phones than its own Windows Phone platform through the first quarter of this year. In the second quarter, Dediu says Microsoft made approximatel...

Deutsche Bank analyst Kai Korschelt on Tuesday estimated that Nokia stands to make a pretty penny off of royalty payments from Apple moving forward. Nokia announced early on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with Apple regarding a series of patent disputes filed by each company over the past few years. Based on recent settlements tied to similar cases in the industry, Korschelt estimates that Apple will give Nokia a $608 million lump-sum payment up front. Following that initial payment, Apple will l...

Verizon Wireless announced a new partnership with Payfone on Monday that will soon allow its customers using phones, tablets, and PCs to make online purchases easier. Once the partnership’s new service is deployed, customers will be able to make more secure purchases online and charge them to their Verizon Wireless bill or use other standard forms of payment. “Our relationship with Payfone complements the part of the mobile payments equation we’re already working on with our Isis joint venture,&...

HP is working on phones and tablets with built-in near-field communication (NFC) technology for mobile payments, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Much like Google Wallet, which will soon launch for the Nexus S and eventually other Android devices, HP hopes its customers will be able to use the company’s products to make mobile purchases in retail outlets. Similarly, HP has a plan to create an entire ecosystem where users will be able to to receive coupons or other benefits, such as loyalty points, from NFC...

Google may have just unveiled its preliminary plans to bring contactless mobile payments to the U.S., but mobile payments in using various technologies are prime to blow up in several other markets around the world as well. Swedish wireless analyst firm Berg Insight on Thursday issued a report on mobile money in emerging markets, and the group believes adoption will skyrocket over the next four years. In 2010 there were 133 million people in emerging markets who used their cell phones to move money or pay for...

Google has been working on a mobile payment service for quite some time now, and the company is finally ready to take the wraps off of the first iteration of its contactless payment product. Google has been buying up talent — and someone spilled the beans this past Tuesday — so we can’t say the announcement is likely to come as much of a surprise. Yes, Google is expected to finally take the wraps off its Google Wallet service, which will use NFC-based technology to allow consumers to pay for goods w...

Sources speaking with Bloomberg claim Google is finally ready to take the wraps off its mobile payment service. According to a new report, Google will host an event on Thursday, May 26th to introduce its new service, which will initially be available only to Sprint subscribers in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. who own the company’s Nexus S 4G smartphone. The system will be NFC-based, and Bloomberg did not specify which retail partners would support Google’s in...

Earlier this month a company called Lodsys began sending letters to iOS app developers using Apple’s in-app billing system, asking each to license its technology separately. In a blog post on May 15th, Lodsys explained on its website that “the scope of [Apple's] current licenses does NOT enable [Apple] to provide  ’pixie dust’ to bless another (third party) business applications.” On Monday Apple issued a response to Lodsys explaining that iOS developers are safe under its licen...

According to a Bernstein note issued on Monday morning, Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone will not include Near field communication (NFC) capabilities as had been previously rumored on several occasions. NFC, which will be featured in RIM’s 2011 BlackBerry smartphone lineup, allows cell phones and other devices to transmit data wirelessly over short distances. Unlike Bluetooth, NFC connections do not require a pairing process, so NFC is well suited for applications such as mobile payments, as it is ...

Mobile payments collaborative Isis has announced its first trial market, Salt Lake City. The group, which is comprised of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, plans to bring its contactless payment system to the Utah merchants in “early to mid-2012.” Isis also announced a working agreement with the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) to enable Isis payments throughout the entire public transportation system. “By working with the Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake Chamber and Salt Lake City-area merchant...

According to Bloomberg, U.S. wireless provider Sprint is working on a mobile, touchless payment service based on NFC (Near Field Communications) technology. Sprint’s vice president of product platforms, Kevin McGinnis, told the publication that his company plans to make its touchless payment system “an open solution” that will work in a variety of physical locations. “Because we’re allowing other brands and other institutions to participate, they can also tell their consumers that this i...

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft is working on a Windows Phone update that will bring mobile payments to its fledgling smartphone operating system. Citing two anonymous sources, the publications writes that the company “plans to include mobile-payment technology in new versions of its operating system for smartphones as part of an effort to narrow Google Inc.’s lead in handset software,” and “the first devices boasting these features may be released this year.” The report suggest...