Google now introduces mobile payment system that will let shoppers pay by waving their phone instead of using a credit card. Google will offer mobile payments with MasterCard and Citibank, as well as with cell phone carriers, hardware manufacturers and retailers.
These mobile wallets will be initially available only on Google's Nexus S phone and will use a Citibank-issued Master Card credit card number and a virtual Google Master Card prepaid card. Consumers can make payments at any of the 124,000 merchants that have Master-Card's Pay Pass terminals, which accept contactless payments.
The three companies have also teamed up with a few retailers - Macy's, American Eagle Outfitters and Subway. After these retailers upgrade their terminals - at first, only retailers in New York and San Francisco will participate - consumers will also be able to redeem discounts and participate in loyalty programs.
For years several companies have been working on mobile wallets that have not been adopted due to certain reasons that include how the various stakeholders will be paid and how the wallet will take shape. Mobile phone carriers, banks, credit card issuer's payment networks and technology companies have been conflicting over their roles.
"Google is dipping their toe into the water and it will accelerate other efforts from other providers," said Rick Oglesby, a senior analyst at the Aite Group, a research and advisory firm focused on the financial services industry. Google plans to use a technology called near-field communication, or NFC, which is incorporated into a chip in mobile phones to make payments, redeem coupons, earn loyalty points and receive special offers.
When a phone is waved in front of a credit card reader, it wirelessly sends an encrypted signal with a person's credit card information. After which, transaction is processed like a normal credit card transaction at a store.
Google's announcement has been expected since it introduced the latest version of its Android mobile phone software, which has the capacity for NFC, and its Nexus S phone, which includes an NFC chip.
According to the report of Global peace Index (GPI), 2011, India has fallen into the 20 least peaceful countries list. India is queuing up with countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. The country is been ranked 135 out 153 nations in the world. Pakistan is ranked 146 and Afghanistan 150 reports Anahita Mukherji for Economic Times.
The Global Peace Index is an initiative of the Institute for Killelea's Economics and Peace, an international think tank that explores relationships between business, peace and economic development.
Now in its fifth year, the GPI measures the relative peacefulness of 153 countries by looking at both qualitative and quantitative indicators that combine internal and external factors determining a nation's peacefulness. These include arms imports and exports, violent crime, battlefield deaths, prison populations, potential for terrorism, political stability and the likelihood of violent demonstrations. The Index also seeks to understand how peace impacts global economics and business, and vice versa.
Iceland topped the ranking as the World's most peaceful nation and Somalia ranked the least as the World's least peaceful nation among the 153 nations. Steve Killelea, founder of the Global Peace Index said that India fell by 7 points and the fall in rankings is largely due to an increasing perception of criminality in society. He mentioned that the increased perception of violence in India was because of the repeated terror attacks in the recent times which makes people insecure and also made it a volatile neighborhood.
The advisory panel apportioned scores based on the relative importance of each of the indicators on a 1-5 scale. Two sub-component weighted indices were then calculated from the GPI group of indicators: 1) a measure of how at peace internally a country is; 2) a measure of how at peace externally a country is. The overall composite score and index was then formulated by applying a weight of 60 percent to the measure of internal peace and 40 percent for external peace.
India's total score was 2.570. A few details of the peace indicators scores are as follows, Number of external and internal conflicts fought -5, Relations with neighboring countries-4, Number of displaced people as a percentage of the population-1, Level of disrespect for human rights-4, Potential for terriorist acts-4, Number of homicides per 100,000 people-2, Level of violent crime-3, Ease of access to small arms and light weapons-4, Military capability/sophistication-4 and Political instability-1.25.
India's score remains the same on most parameters compared to its last year scores. Homicide and crime rates in India, too, are a lot lower than many other countries but the fall in rankings is largely due to an increasing perception of criminality in society.
Steve said "Despite a decade-long war on terrorism, the potential for terrorist acts has increased this year offsetting small gains made in prior years". "The fall in this year's Index is strongly tied to conflict between citizens and their governments; nations need to look at new ways of creating stability other than through military force," said Steve Killelea. The GPI shows that for the third consecutive year, levels of peacefulness have dropped across the globe. The uprising in the Arab world and parts of Africa had much to do with an increase in global violence this time around.
Google is unveiling a new age for payments through its electronic wallet for Android Phones at an event held at New York. It will be launching its long time plan of mobile payments which will be known as 'Google Wallet.' Users of Android phones equipped with an NFC chip will be able to use this new service. Initially the service will be made accessible to cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
This new method of payment will allow consumers to make store purchases and redeem coupons by waving smartphones at checkout counters. The service is expected to tap near-field communications technology and would allow users to pay for retail purchases by holding the devices up to a specialized reader at checkout counters.
Near-field communications allows devices like mobile phones, to swap and exchange information wirelessly when they are near each other, about 4 inches. Consumer can use the NFC technology to pay for items by using their smartphones to send payments directly from their bank accounts to a store terminal.
Speculations were high that Google was partnering with MasterCard and Citigroup to allow the financial giants' customers to use their debit and credit cards to pay for purchase from their Android smartphones. It is to be noted that Google also paid for the installation of thousands of NFC short-range, wireless point-of-sale systems from VeriFone at stores in New York and San Francisco.
It is anticipated that around 40 million to 50 million NFC-equipped phones will be sold in 2011, according to a research firm Forrester. However initially only two phones will be available with NFC chips installed in United States and they are Google Nexus S and the Nokia C7 or Astound. Soon many more will join the league once the service will kick start.
Apart from Google many other companies are also keen to make utilization of the demand for mobile payments business. Microsoft is planning to include NFC technology in a future phone of Windows Phone 7. T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon have already formed a joint-venture payment system called Isis which is predicted to hit the market soon. However Apple's upcoming iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 are believed to be without NFC.
The only big challenge that lies ahead of these giants is to instill the confidence among its consumers about the security as mobile payments still scares people of losing their money and data. And there are some bad guys always watching, to take advantage of such new technology.
The Internet, which has transformed the way we live, work, shop, socialise and now, is also emerging as a powerful catalyst for job creation, says a survey by global management consultancy McKinsey.
According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute, the Net has a sweeping impact on growth, prosperity and has "created 2.4 jobs for every job that it has destroyed".
"The Internet is a contributer to net job creation," McKinsey Global Institute said in its report, titled, 'Internet matters: The Net's Sweeping Impact on Growth, Jobs and Prosperity'.
"While jobs have been destroyed by the emergence of Internet, many more have been created during the same period, including jobs directly linked to the Internet, such as software engineers and online marketers as well as more traditional jobs -- logistics to deliver online purchases," it added.
McKinsey further noted that notwithstanding the fact that some jobs have been destroyed by the emergence of the Internet, a detailed analysis of the French economy showed that while the Internet has destroyed 500,000 jobs over the past 15 years, it has created 1.2 million other jobs.
"A net addition of 700,000 jobs, or 2.4 jobs created for every job destroyed," it said.
This result was also reflected in another McKinsey survey of more than 4,800 SMEs, which showed that 2.6 jobs were created for every one destroyed, confirming the Internet's capacity to create jobs across all sectors.
McKinsey examined the impact of the Internet on 13 countries -- the members of the G8, Brazil, China, India, South Korea and Sweden.
In the 13 countries that the survey covered, the Internet contributed an average 3.4 percent to the GDP, more than agriculture, energy and other better established industries.
Meanwhile, the United Nations, in its millennium development goals, lists Internet penetration as a key metric in efforts to reduce poverty and encourage rational development.
Around two billion people are now connected to the Internet and the number is growing by 200 million each year.
India and China are strengthening their position in the global Internet ecosystem rapidly and are showing growth rates of more than 20% in terms of new connections.
