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MasterCard to use Google for its mobile payment solutionAdd to September 17, 2011 
MasterCard said late yesterday that it will use Google's mobile payment solution for its own customers's needs. The credit card company is the exclusive issuer for the launch of Google Wallet, a digital payment application for Google Android smartphones. Overall, Google Wallet allows users to store credit card information, gift cards, and loyalty cards in a digital format on their own phones. And using short range wireless technology known as near field communications, or NFC, it allows people to pay for things with their phones. The Samsung Nexus S on Sprint Nextel will be the first phone to get the Google Wallet application. MasterCard has worked with other partners outside the U.S. and is already offering mobile payments via cell phones in other parts of the world, including the U.K. and Turkey.  In 1998, Microsoft made an attempt in creating its own wallet application but the project never got off the ground. Using MasterCard's PayPass tap-to-pay system consumers can simply swipe or tap their phones to pay for everything from a Coke in a vending machine to a ride in a New York City taxi or to get a quick lunch at a McDonald's restaurant anywhere in the United States. At an event in New York City this week, the company showed off some of the capabilities of the Google Wallet, which was announced in May and is expected to launch this fall. And it also showed off some new applications for mobile payments that it hasn't commercialized yet. It's pretty obvious now that MasterCard wants to compete headon with Visa International on mobile payment systems. With the Google Wallet, MasterCard showed how users could easily open the wallet with a four-digit password, choose which credit card to use, and then tap a vending machine to buy a Coke. Unfortunately for the demonstrators, the cellular phone network used by the vending machine to authenticate the payment had a weak signal. So the purchase didn't actually go through. Another demonstration showed how Google Wallet can keep track of spending for consumers. And if a certain predefined limit is hit, it lets the user know. In addition to the Google Wallet integration, MasterCard showed off how it plans to use QR Codes to let people buy things more easily. In one demonstration it showed how a QR Code could be shown as part of a home shopping channel to allow people to buy items they see on TV directly from their phones. And in another demonstration, a TV commercial broadcast a high-frequency audio code that could be identified by the phone. In each instance, the featured item on the TV appeared on the phone's screen. The shopper was then given the opportunity to pay for the item or save it in a shopping cart. MasterCard also showed how QR Codes could be used on posters in retail locations or in other public places to let consumers buy goods on the spot. The company used a poster advertising a concert to demonstrate this. A user could scan the QR Code or tap the phone to an NFC receiver to get access to a page where tickets to the concert could be bought. Consumers also had the choice of unlocking a video of the band. And then MasterCard showed how a customer using a QR Code reader or the NFC capability on a smartphone at a fast-food restaurant could order directly from the phone without standing in line. The code and the NFC receiver were embedded in the table, and the idea was that once patrons ordered and paid for their food, the server could just bring the food directly to the table.  Some of these new payment apps and features are being tested now in commercial markets, but MasterCard wouldn't say when these new services would be generally available. The hope is that as more smartphones come on the market with NFC technology embedded and with the ability to read QR Codes, mobile payments will become the new way of paying for small and everyday items. In other mobile news There was a very important House Armed Services Committee hearing held Thursday that was supposed to be about the impact of LightSquared's network on national security regarding its numerous issues with its network causing interference with many GPS navigational systems used throughout the United States. The U.S. Defense Department and the Military both make extensive use of GPS nav systems that could suffer interference from LightSquared's ill-designed transmitters. But what makes this hearing so unusual is the nonappearance of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. It now questions the overall scrutiny of lobbying in the executive branch and also creates some doubts about FCC decision-making process. After all, just as the FAA is supposed to regulate and protect air travel in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission's mandate is to protect our airwaves and make sure that our wireless spectrum does not interfere with such mission-critical systems such as the GPS navigational systems used aboard commercial aircraft. Republican Michael Turner, chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, began the hearing yesterday by criticizing Genachowski for failing to appear at such a critical meeting. Last Friday, during a congressional hearing before the House Science Committee yesterday, LightSquared again found itself in some very hot water when it faced some very pointed questions about its network's impact on GPS service. At issue is the ongoing interference that its network is causing to GPS navigational systems aboard commercial aircraft, and the light approach that LightSquared has around these critical problems that can endanger the lives of passengers. On average, lawmakers voiced skepticism about LightSquared's ability to mitigate its network's effect on GPS, especially federal uses such as hurricane tracking, navigation systems and disaster response.  "I have the unfortunate responsibility to inform the subcommittee that FCC Chairman Genachowski refused to appear today," Turner said, calling the no-show "symptomatic of a disregard by the Chairman to the consequences of the FCC's January 26 waiver to LightSquared." "I consider the Chairman's failure to show up today to be an affront to the House Armed Services Committee," added Turner. The FCC chairman had been asked to testify but did not attend the hearing, instead submitting a six-page letter to Turner and California Democrat Loretta Sanchez. Instead, Julius Knapp, chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering Technology, appeared at the meeting. FCC spokeswoman Tammy Sun later denied that Genachowski had refused to testify, saying "The Chairman never refused to testify nor did his staff make any such suggestions." Aside from pointed remarks about Genachowski's absenteeism, Turner and other lawmakers also questioned how the FCC came about its decision to grant LightSquared a conditional waiver for an LTE network in spectrum so close to GPS bands. The waiver blocks LightSquared from deploying its network until it resolves the GPS interference issue, but government agencies want more reassurance that the service won't go live until this critical issue is solved for good. LightSquared itself did admit recently that its network could knock out some GPS systems right out of the sky, something that shocked not just the FCC but the FAA as well, at a time of heightened security for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. "Many have observed that the FCC followed an irregular process on the LightSquared waiver," Turner said, citing letters sent by the Defense Department and NTIA voicing strong concerns about LightSquared's impact on GPS before the agency granted the waiver. Turner suggested that LightSquared backer and hedge fund billionaire Phil Falcone used his influence to get the waiver, quoting a letter from the National Legal and Policy Center that stated "over the course of the past year, a series of odd decisions, questionable meetings and procedural anomalies at the Federal Communications Commission and White House highlight Mr. Falcone's growing influence in the hallways of government." And the dust up over LightSquared's political connections extended beyond yesterday's Congressional hearing. Just two days ago, the Center for Public Integrity released a report alleging that LightSquared executives lobbied the White House for one-on-ones, dropping hints about its donations to Democrat politicians and a fundraising dinner for President Barack Obama. The watchdog group based its report on e-mails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja called the insinuations "ludicrous" in a written response to Turner's remarks. 
"It's difficult to charge that LightSquared has undue political influence when it was denied the opportunity to testify at today's hearing of the House Armed Service Committee's Strategic Forces Subcommittee – or even be allowed a one-on-one meeting with the chairman of that committee prior to the hearing, as the GPS industry was given," he said. The company has $10,600 set aside for campaign contributions in a political action committee, Ahuja said, adding that he himself gave $30,400 to both political parties in the months before LightSquared's waiver was granted late last year. Falcone has contributed to both parties in the last eight years, "with two-thirds of his contributions going to Republicans because of the founder's free market philosophy." Nevertheless, Genachowski's absense at such a critical meeting yesterday speaks volumes about him and the FCC itself. Wireless Industry News has been following the LightSquared story very closely for the past 8 months. What we are observing here is this: LightSquared inherent profits are more important than the public's safety aboard commercial aircraft. In case you didn't know this, GPS was invented by the U.S. Military and funded by U.S. taxpayers. And it is still fully managed and administered by the U.S. govenment. To think that there could be some lobbying going on at Congress, political parties and at the White House is revolting to say the least, especially when national security is concerned. Here are just a few of the LightSquared stories we have covered so far:
Those news stories will help you better comprehend the scope of the whole issue, and how critical it is to the public's overall safety. Add to Source: The House Armed Services Committee. Advertise with us
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