Back in 2010, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon all teamed together to introduce Softcard (back then it was ISIS), a mobile payment competitor to Google Wallet, so that carriers had better control over consumers payments with their phones. Then in late 2014, Apple introduced Apple Pay, and Banks and stores have been eating it up like there’s no tomorrow. ‘
It seems Softcard has recognized Apple’s growing success with their mobile payment system, as today Google announced that Google Wallet and Softcard are teaming up! Google will acquire some of Softcard’s assets, and says they plan to implement a better, newer mobile payment system to improve the already great Google Wallet.
What exactly will come of this is yet to be seen, but one thing is for sure: expect Google Wallet to get better and more widely released on Android devices. Google said in their announcement that Google Wallet will come pre-installed on phones from the three carriers mentioned above that have KitKat or higher Android versions. Pretty soon, none of us will be carrying our wallets anymore.
