So far Sprint is the only carrier that's officially on board with Google Wallet, but a new report has suggested that Google may be working to get more operators on board. According to Bloomberg's sources, Google is said to be considering sharing revenue from Wallet with carriers like AT&T and Verizon to get them to back the service. When asked to comment on the report, AT&T had nothing to say, but Verizon did mention that it's "continuing [its] commercial discussions with Google on this issue." Google's said in a statement that it continues to "work hard to develop Google Wallet and build the partner ecosystem to make it possible for everyone to pay with their phones and get great deals while shopping."
The Bloomberg report goes on to claim that if Google is unable to get other operators to support Wallet, it may try to sidestep them altogether rely more on in-store terminals to complete transactions. Sources say that this move could require more hardware and software in the stores as well as additional software that would be needed on Google's servers.
It's interesting to hear that Google has approached AT&T and Verizon about Wallet, especially considering that both AT&T and Verizon are already part of a group of companies backing the Isis mobile payment system. Still, it makes sense for Google to try and work with those two carriers in order to help grow Wallet's adoption. Sprint has said that it plans to introduce 10 Wallet-capable devices this year, but getting the support of the two biggest carriers in the U.S. would certainly help boost the adoption of Google's payment service. How many of you have used Google Wallet? If you haven't, do you think it's something you'd be interested in if your carrier/device supported it?
Via Phone Sccop, Bloomberg