London: Web giant Google has masterminded a mobile phone that doubles as a wallet.
Instead holding up checkout queues as customers rifle through their purses to find the right card, they will simply swipe the phone past an electronic reader to pay. And experts claim it is a safer method of payment than magnetic strip credit cards, a newspaper reported.
Google has teamed up with Citigroup and Mastercard to develop the mobile payment system specifically for the Android phone. They have also consulted VeriFone Systems, which makes credit card readers for cash registers. The phone will also store shopping habits and trends so that retailers and businesses can more efficiently target consumers with discounts and advertisements.
Google is not expected to get a cut of the transaction fees, according to Wall Street Journal. Initially, holders of Citigroup-issued debit and credit cards would be allowed to pay for purchases by activating a mobile payment application developed for one current model and many coming models of Android phones, it said.
Experts have claimed that it is safer method of payment than the traditional credit card. "Because it`s contact-less there`s a perception people can grab it from thin air, but it`s actually a more sophisticated technology than credit cards with a magnetic stripe, making it more difficult to steal a consumer`s payment information," said Nick Holland, a mobile-transactions analyst at Yankee Group.
ANI
