Google Said to be Considering Sharing Google Wallet Revenue with Carriers
While Google has made nice progress with Google Wallet since announcing it last year, it’s no secret that rate of adoption could be better – a lot better, in fact. As many feared, NFC and mobile payments is too primitive a technology right now.
While the required components are available in consumer-ready phones, the very small club of participants – including retailers and carriers – is making it difficult to drum up any interest. According to new reports, Google may have an idea to change that.
They’re reportedly considering an idea to share revenue they make from coupons and special offers with carriers. They had no problem bringing Sprint on board, but AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile are all in the ISIS basket, and many other carriers worldwide aren’t even an option at this point.
It makes sense for Google to start by swooning carriers – the more of them they get on-board, the more merchants will want to support the service due to an increased pool of potential users. Of course, this is hardly a “chicken before the egg” scenario.
Focusing on getting more and bigger merchants first could give users incentive to try Google Wallet, which would then make it easier for carriers to come around. I’m no marketing guru or anything, but it could work just as well. The good news is that they’re doing something, though, if this story turns out to be true.