News

Google to pilot NFC POS system

March 14, 2011

Google Inc. is looking to test a contactless, point-of-sale system allowing consumers to pay for in-store purchases using phones equipped with near field communication (NFC) technologies, according to Bloomberg. The pilot program should start some time in the next four months in New York and San Francisco.

The Bloomberg article said Google is buying thousands of NFC-equipped, point-of-sale terminals from VeriFone Systems Inc. for the trial.

While neither Google nor VeriFone would comment on the story, Google has enabled NFC technologies on its Android mobile operating systems. Outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt has beena vocal proponent of NFC as an enabling technology for mobile payments.

For its part, VeriFone recently announced it will include NFC capabilities on all of its new POS terminals.

Research in Motion, the company that makes BlackBerry smartphones, recently said it would enable NFC on devices released later this year. Reportsreleased Monday said Apple would not include NFC on its next-generation iPhone.