A Google cellphone embedded with a chip that makes it a virtual wallet is poised to make its debut in the US, the internet giant said this week.
AFP reports that the successor to the Nexus One smartphone is embedded with a near-field communication chip for financial transactions.
3 billion internet users by 2014
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt pulled out a touch screen smartphone from a jacket pocket during an on-stage chat at a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. “You will be able to take these mobile devices that will be able to do commerce,” he continued. He said the phones would eventually replace credit cards in many instances. “In the industry it’s referred to as tap-and-pay.”
The chips store personal data that can be transmitted to readers at store tills by tapping a handset on a pad.