Google Wallet and Mastercard

Techcrunch is at the Google “partner event” in NYC today and as expected Google has annoucned its NFC payment initiative with partners Citi, Mastercard, FirstData, and Sprint. Stephanie Tilenius, Google’s VP of Commerce, also introduced Google offers which allows consumers to redeme coupons from and initial roster of retailers including Macy’s, Subway, Walgreens, and Toys R Us.

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Google and Sprint partner on NFC payments

Bloomberg is reporting that people close to the situation say that Google and Sprint will announce a partnership to bring NFC transactions to Sprint users this year. There are limited details at this point but both Google and Sprint have been talking about rolling NFC services and this news seems to indicate they are close to an offering. Google has sent out invitations for a press event on May 26th so maybe more information will become available then.

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Sprint opens up its carrier billing systems on Android

Sprint is opening up its carrier billing systems for Android developers. This will allow developers to integrate mobile payment for in app purchases that are passed through to Sprints billing system and will appear on customers monthly cell phone bill.

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Sprint to launch NFC payment in 2011

Bloomberg reports that Sprint will be launching a NFC payment system ahead of competitor Isis. This rounds out the list of companies that will be launching a NFC payment system before Isis, ie., everyone.

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Sprint and ECOtality

In a recent keynote speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse talked about his company’s role in several telematic initiatives. One of those was a partnership with ECOtality. Sprint provides wireless connectivity to more than 15,000 Level 2 stations and Level 3 stations that make up ECOtality’s Blink Network.

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AT&T and Sprint: mobile payment

AT&T and Sprint both announce new mobile payment solutions in the US. The mobile commerce/payment market is expected to be worth $633B by 2014, so its a huge opportunity anyway you look at it. However, when you add virtual goods into the mix and alternative “currencies” things really start to heat up.

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Sprint and GridNet: US Smart Grid

Sprint and GridNet have teamed up to provide nationwide wireless connectivity for smart meters and routers on Sprint’s 4G network. GridNet describes its unique market positions as follows: Universal Management — first Utility NOC Network Management System to manage all electric devices (supports Ethernet, Fibre, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and HomePlug) Massive Scalability — able […]

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Unlimited Data on Cell Phones

MocoNews reports on an article behind registration at the WSJ about cellular companies reactions to users of thier “unlimited” data plans. From MocoNews: “WSJ has a good story collecting stories about operators asking users to stop using Internet on their mobile phones if the usage becomes high (individual stories have surfaced on various personal blogs […]

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dana boyd: Helio and MySpace

dana is not too excited about the Helio launch. From the post: “When i heard that the Helio was going to launch with MySpace on board, i got super super excited. Like IM and email, MySpace is a perfect application to bridge web and mobile interactions. Sure, it only would include the communications messages and […]

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MTV’s Jason Hirschhorn

Ad Age has a long article about MTV and its Chief of Digital, Jason Hirschhorn. From the article: “Few other companies have a position as elevated as his with purview over domestic and international digital media. He oversees mobile, broadband and video-on-demand strategy — he’ll meet with Sprint one day and with Microsoft the next, […]

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