“Apple has Apple Pay, and now it looks like Google may be fattening up its own wallet,” Ingrid Lunden reports for TechCrunch. “According to people familiar with the situation, the search giant and maker of Android is interested in buying Softcard, the mobile payments company formerly known as Isis.”
“The price may be under $100 million, according to our sources. That is either a huge bargain or a testament to Softcard’s difficulties as an enterprise: sources tell us that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile — the three carriers that started Isis in 2010 — have collectively invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the joint venture,” Lunden reports. “Softcard earlier this month laid off about 60 employees and has been in a consolidation phase.”
“Softcard, created as a unified front for the big carriers to come to market with a ‘contactless’ NFC mobile payments solution (also what Apple Pay uses), says that there are over 200,000 merchants in the U.S. (including some biggies like Subway and McDonalds) that can accept payments with its app, which is available for Android and Windows Phone devices but not Apple’s iPhone handsets,” Lunden reports. “A source tells us that at one point the company’s burn rate was around half a million dollars per day, or around $15 million per month.”
“Our sources say that one of the reasons for Google’s interest is Softcard’s patents, or more specifically what appear to be applications for patents,” Lunden reports. “The company has just over 120 in all.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Who’d you rather have as a customer base for making payments, owners of iOS devices or fragmandroid settlers?
‘Nuff said.
Related articles:
CBS News: Apple Pay in the driver’s seat – December 31, 2014
Apple Pay has strong momentum; took 1% of digital payments in November – December 20, 2014
What Apple Pay means to Bank of America: Security – November 6, 2014
Apple Pay is nirvana for (smart) retailers – November 6, 2014
Entrepreneur warns retailers, restaurants, bars: Do not wait, jump on the Apple Pay bandwagon ASAP – November 5, 2014
Sorry, Walmart, CVS, Rite-Aid et al. — Apple Pay and NFC have already won – November 4, 2014
Even more proof that Android is for poor people – November 15, 2014
Why Silicon Valley doesn’t care about Android – November 10, 2014
Apple iPhone continues utter domination with 86% share of handset industry profits – November 4, 2014
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Apple’s iOS dominates in richer countries, Android in poorer regions – March 25, 2014
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IDC data shows two thirds of Android’s 81% smartphone share are cheap junk phones – November 13, 2013
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CIRP: Apple iPhone users are younger, richer, and better educated than those who settle for Samsung knockoff phones – August 19, 2013
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iPhone users smarter, richer than Android phone users – August 16, 2011
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Nobody Trusts Google.
Unfortunately, that is amazingly, not true as evidenced by the large numbers of users of gmail, and Googles office apps.
Clueless use “free” as they don’t see themselves being harmed.
gee, I wonder why they changed their name.
We had a dog named Isis that passed away a year ago. If she hadn’t, I don’t know what we would have done. She was too old to change her name.
Here Isis! 😳
sorry about your dog, man…I like what Mark Twain said about ’em:
“Take in a starving dog, he won’t bite you. That’s the principal difference between a dog and a man.”
“including some biggies like Subway and McDonalds”
Not Subway, their card readers (that claims to also do NFC) is so cheap that the NFC part rarely works.
I hope they don’t decide to go cheap on their food as well.
It will be an Apple Pay slaughter once all the progress stunting & doofus detritus (as well as clueless business pay system practices) are pushed aside by popular demand.