Google taps Ingenico for NFC coupons pilot
06 May, 2011
category: NFC
Ingenico has announced it will provide retailers participating in Google’s new NFC pilot with hardware designed to accept mobile coupons.
According to Finextra, Ingenico CEO Philippe Lazare told AFP news agency that Google has contracted the company to install its NFC-enabled point of sale equipment at retailers in New York and San Francisco. Originally thought to focus on mobile payments, Google’s pilot will instead aim to determine customer attitudes towards mobile couponing and other marketing/loyalty aspects of NFC technology.
For the pilot, customers will simply tap their Android mobile phones against a reader at the point of sale to redeem coupons. Payments will be made in the usual way, says Finextra.
Though there have been some concerns raised about NFC being too slow to create a viable alternative to a real wallet, Google’s pilot should give us a good idea of how the technology will really play out. Installation is expected to begin within the next four months.
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