It was clear that Google was keen on taking NFC mobile payment system to a next level when it announced the Google Nexus S phone with NFC capabilities in December 2010. Near Filed Communication (NFC) system allows users to use their mobile phone like a credit card to make payments with the NFC supported vendors all by just weaving your phone against the NFC tags installed at the shops.
Bloomgberg is now reporting that Google in association with Sprint will be launching the NFC mobile payment service in the US on May 26th. The article which is based on information from three anonymous sources also says that the service will be initially launched in five US cities – New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C simultaneously aided by the hardware and software support from Verifone and Vivotech. Google’s Nexus S 4G and Nokia Astound (T-Mobile) are the only mobile phones currently available in the market that come with an embedded NFC chip.
Google’s Eric Schimdt will be talking about the NFC mobile payments at the next week’s D9 : All Things Digital conference at New York. We hope we will get more details about the launch of NFC payments there.