It’s official. Google has acquired “some exciting technology and intellectual property” from Softcard, the carrier-owned mobile payment system that for years, was the reason Google Wallet couldn’t exist on your Android phone. Oh how the times have changed.
Thanks to this acquisition of tech, along with a new partnership through Softcard’s founders (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile), Google Wallet will now come pre-installed on Android phones sold by these carriers later this year. Google didn’t specify if this meant all Android phones moving forward or not, but I would imagine that is the case. Google did note that phones will need to run KitKat or higher.
Within the last month, we have seen rumors suggest that Google would buy Softcard and that they would team up with carriers after all these years to give Google Wallet a new push to try and compete with Apple Pay. I’d say with this morning’s announcement, that those reports were spot on.
Excited about Google Wallet being forced upon your device or is it bloatware that you would rather not have?
Via: Google Commerce
This post was last modified on February 23, 2015 9:29 am