We'd dreamt of a day when our cell phones will become our credit cards. That day doesn't seem like some far-fetched futuristic concept now, with Google's Eric Schmidt working towards the same. At the Web 2.0 Summit, he said that the upcoming Android 2.3 (or Gingerbread) mobile operating system will support a technology called Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC is a short-range, high frequency wireless technology that can swap data from two devices kept at most 4-inches apart. It works in a similar 'contactless' way that our office access cards or the smart-cards used by many public transport systems do.
Now the idea is to embed these NFC chips into cell-phones. There are only a few handful phones as of today that have this chip. But Android 2.3's compatibility with them gives hardware manufacturers a good reason to put one of these in their next Android phones. They could replace your credit cards while making payments at shops or restaurants. But Google has no plans to get their hands dirty into making specialized mobile payment software themselves. Eric said they'd rather partner with traditional credit card players (like a VISA or Mastercard).
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