Pre-orders for Sprint's version of the Galaxy Nexus, begun on April 16, may have reflected very strong demand. Earlier Thursday, the pre-order page indicated that inventory had been sold out for those not willing to wait until the April 22 launch. The exact quantities Sprint will have aren't known and make it difficult to gauge actual interest.
Sprint on Tuesday confirmed some rumors and unveiled the LG Optimus Elite. The carrier's version of the Optimus Net, which will also have a Virgin Mobile equivalent, will be the most affordable US smartphone ever to support Google Wallet, costing just $30 on Sprint after a contract and rebate. Its support for the needed NFC is an exception to entry level specs, such as a 3.5-inch, 320x480 display, an 800MHz processor, and a five-megapixel back camera with none at the front.
Square landed a key addition to its ranks Monday after Rob von Behren confirmed through his LinkedIn profile and a conversation with NFC Times that he had left Google for the newcomer. He had co-created Google Wallet, but left the project in January and decided to switch companies after hearing of Square doing "great things" in mobile payments. Von Behren's exact purpose at Square wasn't going to be made public outside of his general position.
Google has announced that it has moved to acquire TxVia, a company that specializes in mobile payment processing technology. In a statement, the search giant notes that the buyout will help the company "accelerate innovation towards our full Google Wallet vision," though the exact terms of the deal have yet to be publicly disclosed.
One of LG's entry-level Android phones should reach Sprint and Virgin Mobile with a small twist based on leaks late Thursday. Photos of the Optimus Elite, Sprint's adaptation of the Optimus Net, showed PocketNow the 3.2-inch phone adopting a more conventional but very compact look. Both versions would stand out by being some of the least expensive Android phones yet to have NFC and, through Sprint's involvement, official Google Wallet support.
Google may be looking to implement major changes to Google Wallet after getting little support, leaks might have disclosed on Wednesday. Having only ever earned support from Sprint, the search giant was said by Bloomberg to be looking at a revenue split to get AT&T or Verizon offering support. The proposal would give a cut of Google Offers coupons and other deals.
Google has begun distributing $5 credits to Google Prepaid Card accounts, after the fledgling Google Wallet NFC payment service encountered several problems. In response to a security vulnerability, the company had temporarily barred users from creating new cards and blocked the ability to reset the system.
An FCC filing from last week has shown that Sprint's Galaxy Nexus is getting close to release. Going under a very different codename of SPH-L700, instead of SGH-i9250 or similar for the original, the Android 4.0 phone's identity is given away by its combining 850MHz and 1,900MHz CDMA with the 1,900MHz LTE only Sprint will be using so far. The inclusion of NFC is the other giveaway that the device is a Nexus given how few Android phones have yet to carry the technology.
As expected, PayPal has demonstrated its newly redesigned Digital Wallet service. Two videos outlining the thorough changes to the service are embedded below, made by the eBay Ink blog. The desktop interface sports a plethora of options of how user can user their money, pay for purchases, and even split it into different accounts, or "buckets" as PayPal VP of global product and experience Sam Sharuger reveals.
In February, PayPal provided new details on how it planned to roll out its in-store payment services. The subsidiary of eBay plans to demonstrate at the SXSW conference in Austin how it hopes to distinguish its consumer-side digital wallet service from the competition, including Google Wallet and Isis. PayPal hopes to expand its attractiveness by offering more payment flexibility, generating wish lists, and providing greater account control.
Google has sorted out a pair of significant glitches with Android content on Thursday. A new version of the Google Play Store is being pushed out over the air to fix an issue that broke links for Motorola users. While the store had always remained in place, it forced users both to contend with broken links and hunt for the app separately.
Those with rooted Android handsets will no longer have the ability to use Google Wallet after an update that began rolling out this weekend. Droid-Life learned that a new yellow notification bar began appearing on rooted Android handsets with the Google Wallet app loaded onto them, informing the device is no longer supported. A link to a web page explains that the app won't work because the handset's security has been compromised due to the presence of "unauthorized" software.
Isis, which is due to kick off this summer, has now secured cash register and payment hardware makers VeriFone, Ingenico, ViVOtech, and Equinox Payments as partners. They have vowed to integrate the Isis Mobile Commerce Application wireless payments technology into their future products. Isis will use NFC technology for payments, digital couponing, location-based social media offers, and more. It's a competitor for Google's Wallet offering.
Target and Walmart have joined in the development of yet another mobile payment system, insides gave out on Thursday. The two were said by Wall Street Journal's contacts to now be part of a group with about 24 member store chains hoping to create a standard that, though not directly named, would use NFC. Consulting firm BetterBuyDesign's Steve Mott corroborated the plan by revealing its involvement in the project, with word that big chains as well as drugstores, fast food restaurants, and vending machine firms were involved.
Sprint will be adding to the number of its devices supporting Google Wallet. The wireless carrier used a panel discussion at the Mobile World Congress to reveal that it will offer support for the NFC-based mobile payment app on at least ten more smartphones or tablets during the course of 2012. Sprint currently has made the mobile payment system available on the Nexus S 4G and will support it on their soon to be released version of the Galaxy Nexus.
Isis, the mobile commerce venture between AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have finalized their wireless payment standard for mobile devices, calling it Isis Mobile Wallet. It's due to launch this summer, with Chase, Capital One, and Barclaycard being the first banks to sign up and have their credit, debit, and prepaid cards be compatible with the system. The first merchants to support the system will be located in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas. Like Google Wallet, its major competitor, Isis Mobile Wallet let users securely pay for goods and merchandise with their handsets.
Google revealed that its has restored the ability to issue new prepaid cards to its Google Wallet as of Monday afternoon. The service was put on hold on Saturday as a problem allowed users to re-provision an existing prepaid card to another user. This issue has also reportedly been addressed, and Google said it hasn't recorded any known abuse of the flaw.
Google quickly reacted to mounting Google Wallet security issues by putting a temporary freeze on new prepaid cards. While at least some existing users could keep paying with theirs, Google was preventing new uses as a "precaution" before it could get a surefire fix, Wallet VP Osama Bedier said in a post Saturday. He nonetheless insisted that Google Wallet had multiple security layers, ranging from its own PIN code requirement to an auto-wipe of local Wallet data if the phone is rooted after the Android app is installed.
Yet another Google Wallet vulnerability has been spotted, just one day after security researchers published details of a similar issue that only affects rooted devices. The latest vulnerability is claimed to affect all Android devices, however, including those running stock software.
Researchers at security firm Zvelo have released details surrounding a Google Wallet vulnerability that is claimed to leave a user's PIN data exposed. Engineers were reportedly able to develop a crack that quickly determines a user's four-digit PIN, which serves as an essential security layer to prevent the NFC system from transmitting card data without authorization.
The GSM version of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus appears to have added official support for Google's Wallet app, which now appears in the Android Market for AT&T subscribers. Early buyers were able to run the NFC payment app, however the title was invisible when attempting to search for it in the Android Market directly from the phone.
Google has posted a signup page for the Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus. Potential early adopters can get information about when the Android 4.0 phone hits the carrier and also might get news of "Nexus products, services, and features." Those who put in a ZIP code can get locations for shops when orders start.
Sprint in commentary during CES confrimed that it was dropping WiMAX on smartphones. The initial LTE smartphones were ultimately representing a full-scale switch to the technology for 4G phones, PCMag was told. The carrier was being more aggressive than it had suggested before and, when promising LTE in mid-year, had meant between January and June, Owens explained.
Sprint on Monday ended some rumors and detailed its first three LTE devices. At the front is its own version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The Android 4.0 flagship will be identical to the Verizon model but will be the only version so far to be officially blessed with Google Wallet support, letting it use its NFC to pay at MasterCard's PayPass readers in the US.
Sprint has finally posted its Galaxy Nexus page and confirmed launch plans for LG's viper handset, following an advertisement campaign that appeared to launch ahead of schedule. The Nexus teaser does not offer many surprises, aside from a detail pointing to support for the Google Wallet NFC payment system.
Following a set of hacked installs, explorers have posted a much easier unofficial install of Google Wallet for the Galaxy Nexus. The new version on the XDA-Developers forums is a standard APK that loads much like any non-Market app. Its only current software need is Android 4.0.2.
Although Verizon only released the much anticipated
Samsung Galaxy Nexus earlier this week, enthusiasts already have posted hacks to expand the Android 4.0 smartphone's functionality. One such effort has leveraged the phone's inbuilt NFC capabilities and created a ROM which supports
Despite increases in device share, iOS app development is still three times larger, Flurry said Monday. New app starts on Android had actually declined in ratio from the start of 2011 to the end, shrinking from 37 percent to 27 percent in a fall estimate. iOS development had grown by an equal number of points and was now up to 73 of starts.
Research firm ViaForensics has performed a study on a rooted smartphone with Google Wallet preloaded and concluded that the software doesn't encrypt sensitive payment card information. This includes the last four digits of a credit card number, balance, credit limit, expiration date, transactions and other sensitive information. The data is unencrypted and stored in SQLite databases.
Google Wallet might leave the US for the first time based on the claims of French paper Les Echos. A trial run of the NFC-based wireless payment system would reportedly start up in early 2012 with the anticipation of having it ready for the summer Olympics, which start in London on July 27. Banks, distributors, and stores were supposedly in talks.
Verizon on Tuesday denied blocking Google Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus. Spokesman Jeffrey Nelson claimed that the nature of the NFC-based payment system wasn't just top-level and had to be integrated into a "new, secure and proprietary hardware element" to work properly. He was adamant that, despite the app not being on the device or in Android Market, it wasn't a case of Verizon trying to censor apps.
Verizon was accused Monday of deliberately blocking Google Wallet on its version of the Galaxy Nexus. Although the new Nexus has the needed NFC chip and is stock Android, 9to5 had heard that Wallet was being screened from Android Market. The objective would supposedly be to block a competitor to the upcoming multi-carrier Isis payment system due next year.
When Verizon first ships the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus next month, the Android 4.0-based smartphone is not going to support Google Wallet, at least officially. The Android community is not waiting. Developers at MoDaCo already have posted a hack to offer this functionality.
In a lower-key move next to its Google Music store launch, Google said it was rolling Google Checkout into Google Wallet. The switch makes the system that handles NFC-based mobile payments the same that handles regular web sales. Android Market, Google+ games, and YouTube movie rentals will all use Wallet, while a Wallet sign-in will work at any third-party store that takes either the new format or Checkout.
RIM had the distinction of providing the first phones to use a SIM card that support MasterCard's NFC-based PayPass tech for short-range wireless payments. Both the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the Curve 9360 can, with the right apps, pay at a store just by tapping a receiver. The account will be attached to the SIM card, not the phone, and let users swap phones with the same account, although it may create issues with switching carriers.
Google has teamed up with the NJ Transit to let its riders pay for fares using Google Wallet and NFC "tap to pay" technology. At launch, the service will be available at two stations and on a few bus lines. Also initially, riders will only be able to pay with Citigroup MasterCard, as well as Google's own prepaid virtual card.
Google updated Google Wallet to add a fresh feature for the US and rework the interface. SingleTap lets users with a Wallet-equipped phone like the Nexus S 4G both buy something using NFC but take advantage of any discounts or rewards at the same time, instead of having to handle them one at a time. A Featured Offers addition helps by showing a Groupon-style daily deal list where users can tag them to take advantage when they check out.
Enterprising members of the XDA Developers forum have found a new hack to bring Google Wallet functionality to the original Nexus S smartphone. User Venumx got the credit for the hack, though it was shared by got2best. Officially, Google Wallet only works on the Nexus S 4G smartphone for Sprint.
Last-minute leak has Facebook Places using NFC on phones Facebook's annual developer conference known as f8 is scheduled for today, with the latest news of what's going to happen at the event coming courtesy of GigaOM. The source believes Facebook will make an announcement regarding NFC technology, with the social network's Places feature getting the capability. Hardware maker partners are expected to be named here as well.
As hinted earlier, Google Wallet on Monday went active for real users. The service in starting off will still work on just Citi MasterCards and the virtual Google Prepaid Card, but is now opening to rival cards. American Express, Discover, and Visa are all making their NFC specs available to let banks add the cards to the mobile payment system.
Google is finally expected to switch on Google Wallet on Monday after unveiling it four months earlier. Partners are receiving a notice telling them that the NFC (near-field communications) tap-to-pay service will be ready to use anywhere a MasterCard PayPass terminal is active. Although a few NFC-aware phones have launched since, TechCrunch understood that the Nexus S 4G running Android 2.3.4 would still be the only phone to support it at first.
MasterCard has gone beyond Google Wallet to show a new mobile platform that could use multiple mobile technologies to solve mobile payments. Known collectively as QkR, they focus on QR codes for mobile payments but also audio cues, NFC short-range wireless, and even Microsoft's Kinect for the Xbox 360. One system would have an NFC 'coaster' that could recognize products shown on TV and let users tap an NFC-equipped phone or tablet on the coaster to buy whatever's on TV.
Apple's plans to bring the iPhone to Sprint are accurate, sources gave out Tuesday. The iPhone 5 is now set to reach the third-largest US carrier at the same time as it does AT&T and Verizon, in mid-October. The WSJ sources didn't confirm T-Mobile, although a prototype has been seen.
A new leak from Radio Shack indicates the retailer is near ready to go live as a Google launch partner on its Google Wallet undertaking. The leak, sent to Engadget, comes in the form of a memo to Radio Shack employees that specifically references September 1 as the date Google Wallet is ready. The functionality is more likely to go live later on in September, however.
Visa on Tuesday said it would ramp up its NFC mobile payment plans. Its support for the short-range credit card payments would now include dual-mode chips that can support Europay along with domestic standards. The hardware would also bring in dynamic authentication that would introduce very specific values for each deal: even a replica card or fake data on a phone wouldn't work because it would produce different values each time.
Isis on Tuesday said it had landed the top four credit card companies in the US for its mobile payment plans. American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa have all agreed to handle payments from NFC-based phones when the service goes live in the first six months of 2012. The approach may give it at least a temporary edge over Google Wallet, which is so far limited to MasterCard.
Google is believed to be buying Punchd in a bid to improve Google Wallet. The leaked deal, worth over $10 million, would give Google access to a mobile loyalty card system currently built for Android and iPhone users. Clues given to TechCrunch hinted that Punchd's self-titled project would still carry on.
The upcoming GRJ90 update to the Nexus S 4G written about yesterday and due for July 11 will also update the handset to Android 2.3.5, according to Droid-Life. The update will otherwise allow the secure element in the NFC chip to work, thus enabling Google Wallet functionality on the handset. Other changes the software will bring with it include a 4G Settings Widget, TTY Support, NI Push Support, and better Wi-Fi performance, speakerphone audio quality, 4G throughput and signal acquisition. The signal strength indicators get a new tune as well.
A new USPTO patent filing has revived rumors that NFC-based Mac-to-iPhone syncing is in development. The patent for an "electronic device with conductive housing and near field antenna" would have a computer or any other display-equipped device carry spiral antennas to pick up near-field communications from a smartphone or other mobile device when brought close. Its example design, which resembles an iMac or a similar computer display, would work with multiple devices put typically within about four to eight inches away.
VeriFone partly bowed to pressure on Wednesday with the introduction of PayWare Mobile Enterprise for Tablets. The option will give iPads, as well as Android 3 tablets, a hardware card reader and app combination that can serve as a store checkout much like Square's eponymous readers. The VeriFone option claims an edge with PIN-based debit cards and support for NFC devices that can tap to make a payment, such as a Nexus S 4G using Google Wallet.
