So naturally investors and traders will want to know how to trade this.
Google is hoping to making mobile payments easier, and wants to give retailers more data about their customers. Google isn't expected to take a cut of the transaction, but it will allow them to place more targeted ads to the consumer.
If you have a Citigroup-issued debit and credit card, you would be able to pay for the item(s) by activating an app for the phone.
The two biggest names that are likely to benefit from the move are VeriFone Systems Inc., (NYSE:PAY) and NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI). VeriFone makes the credit-card readers for cash registers, while NXP is the leader in near-field communications (NYSE:NFC) chips. Google and NXP already have a working relationship for NFC chips, so it stands to reason that NXP would likely be part of this venture as well. NXP has been mentioned before as a potential play on NFC.
In a quote to the Journal, Nick Holland said, "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." Holland is a mobile-transactions analyst at Yankee Group.
In an interview with the Journal, VeriFone CEO Doug Bergeron said, "A phone is a lot smarter than a card. It opens the door to a rich experience at the point of sale that retailers really covet."
It's incredibly interesting times we live in. Time to make some money off it.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
