Ahead of rivals?
Mobile payments business is getting bigger and more complicated with every other technology company trying to enter the bandwagon. Sprint is setting up a mobile payment network via cell phones, Bloomberg reported.
The carrier's VP of product platforms Kevin McGinnis told Bloomberg that Sprint phones will eventually have near-field communication (NFC) chips inside and those phones can be waved over a terminal installed in retail stores in order to pay for items. It expects a service to start this year.
"We intend to make this an open solution where consumers can use their phone in a variety of physical locations," Bloomberg quoted McGinnis as saying. "Because we're allowing other brands and other institutions to participate, they can also tell their consumers that this is available on Sprint."
According to the report, items paid via NFC might not show up on the phone bill, but will reflect on the user's credit card statement. Interestingly, Sprint will not take a percentage of each transaction, but instead take a share of revenue generated from coupons or deals for certain retailers that users would have access to via the mobile payment system, according to the report.
McGinnis declined to comment on particular device manufacturers it is working with, however the Nexus S phone will be on the carrier's network very soon.
Earlier last week, we reported that Microsoft will be integrating NFC into its Windows Phones. Samsung and Visa have tied up to bring NFC by Olympic 2012. A Bloomberg report suggested that Amazon might venture in too.
However, Thomas Husson, Forrester analyst noted that "Operators believe payments represent an opportunity for them to create value-added services" but also said "Adding new players and technologies such as NFC to an already complex and evolving value chain is a recipe for disruption in many forms."
