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Sprint Says NFC Payments Coming This Year

Apr 4, 2011, 12:21 PM by Eric M. Zeman

Speaking in an interview, Kevin McGinnis, vice president of product platforms, said that Sprint plans to debut a mobile payment system "this year" leveraging near-field communications. McGinnis didn't provide too many details, but said it is already working with handset makers and financial institutions to make mobile payments a reality. "We intend to make this an open solution where consumers can use their phone in a variety of physical locations," said McGinnis. "Because we're allowing other brands and other institutions to participate, they can also tell their consumers that this is available on Sprint." Sprint is the only major U.S. network operator not backing Isis, which is a joint venture announced in late 2010 by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. McGinnis said that Sprint was initially part of Isis, but decided to create its own mobile payment system instead. Isis says its system may not get off the ground until 2012, which means Sprint may beat it to market. A number of companies, such as Google, Nokia, RIM, and others, have all voiced support for NFC mobile payment systems. Sprint didn't say which handset maker would be first to field an NFC-equipped phone for its mobile payment system, but HTC's Jason Mackenzie said that the company will release at least one NFC-equipped smartphone this year.

Bloomberg / BusinessWeek »

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Comments

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This forum is closed.

pickles

Apr 7, 2011, 3:55 AM

psh, who cares???

when are they gonna come out with a phone that can hold all my cash and dispense it for me as necessary?? now that would be a sweet phone.

jackshepard23

Apr 4, 2011, 12:53 PM

Do subscribers really care about this? I'm curious to know.

Jayshmay

I'm not a customer of Sprint, but I do!

Heck the smartphone has replaced the alarm clock, calender, calculator, mp3 player, and next is the debit card. I am very, very excited about NFC payments becoming a reality in the U.S.

And to the old peop...
(continues)

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HawkeyeOC

jackshepard23 said:
Do subscribers really care about this? I'm curious to know.

Not a Sprint subscriber either, but very excited about this. Too many cards in my wallet and only one phone 😁

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