by Robert Abby

Created on: November 17, 2010

With the latest flavor of Google's Mobile OS, Android' being slated for release in a few weeks, company CEO Eric Schmidt has taken the liberty to make a few announcements regarding just how much we should be looking forward to the new installment.  Dubbed "Gingerbread", this delicious baked good is slated to be wafting into local markets in 'the next few weeks', just in time for the holidays.  One of the most notable features he says, is the utilization of Near Field Communications (NFC) to tap your Android device against a merchant terminal to pay for products and services.  Think of it as a digital credit card replacement, the Exxon/Mobil SpeedPass, and one step closer to a New World Order for conspiracy buffs.  

The integration of NFC into your android powered handsets is one more step towards lifestyle integration, something that smartphones have literally been sprinting towards since their magical inception.  Services out now such as PayPal and Square are going to have to hop on board here and learn how to ride this new wave that seems to come somewhat out of left field.  Utilizing the Web 2.0 Conference out in San Francisco to spread the good word, Schmidt held a new mystery device to show off this new technology.  Hopefully everyone was watching closely and taking notes.

The Mobile Payment marketplace has been growing exponentially as of late, and the emergence of this new technology will be sure to stimulate this growing market.  Google did go on record stating that they will work with current payment processors and other industry players, rather than compete with them.  There are only so many people Google can compete with at one time, even considering that Android OS overtook Apple's iOS as the most popular mobile format behind Nokia's Symbian in Q3 of 2010.  This healthy relationship with a bunch of key players should only help to speed this product to consumers rather than offer a plethora of hurdles for Google to overcome.

With all of the mobile awesomeness that this service can offer, the first question that is going to be on many people's minds is security.  Keeping a plethora of financial info in your telephone offers up a proverbial Pandora's Box for identity thieves and hackers alike.  Now if anyone out there is like me, and doesn't let their $600.00 retail cost phone out of their sight for more than a second and will triple check for it on a regular basis, then loss isn't quite as much of a worry, but hey, accidents happen.  So it will  be interesting to see just what types of security and counter-measures will be drafted up to make this service safe and available for everyone.

 With Google's bad press surrounding privacy restriction violations with both their Google Buzz and Google Street View products, it will be important for them to prove the skeptics wrong and regain the faith of the average consumer.

Learn more about this author, Robert Abby.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.