AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US will install Google Wallet on their Android phones, and will sell intellectual property from their own mobile payments venture to Google. Softcard, the mobile payments app created by these carriers, will continue to work on the phones on which it is already installed. (Softcard was previously called Isis Mobile Wallet.)
Google and the carriers have been at odds with each other over mobile payments for some time, both jockeying for position on Android phones. Apple’s iPhones have Apple Pay, and that is probably the reason Google and the carriers have joined forces. Another threat is Samsung, which said earlier this month that it will buy Loop Pay for mobile payments.
Mobile payments matter a lot, for the carriers and for Google. The mobile operators see commerce and loyalty cards as a way to move beyond the connectivity business, which is becoming increasingly commoditized and is under pressure from both Washington, D.C., and the cable industry. Delivering their subscribers to retailers is a significant opportunity for the carriers.
For Google, mobile payments is a logical extension of its core business: advertising. With the Google search engine, Google Maps and Google Wallet, the software giant can find consumers the products they want, direct them to the place to buy those products and offer the retailer valuable information about those consumers.
