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Wal-Mart, Target and other retailers secretly working on mobile payments system, reports WSJ

Wal-Mart, Target and other retailers secretly working on mobile payments system, reports WSJ

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The Wall Street Journal reports that "roughly two dozen retailers" including Target and Wal-Mart are collaborating on a mobile payment system of their own.

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NFC Contactless Payments reciever (1020)
NFC Contactless Payments reciever (1020)

If you were hoping that the powers that be would settle on one tap-to-pay smartphone system, you're out of luck: The Wall Street Journal reports that "roughly two dozen retailers" including Target and Wal-Mart are collaborating on a new mobile payment system of their own. While some of the publication's facts appear to come from anonymous sources, there doesn't seem to be any doubt in the report: consulting firm BetterBuyDesign spoke on the record about the technology, saying that retailers decided they could do better than than existing mobile payment systems like Isis and Google Wallet, both in terms of privacy and security and in providing targeted offers (like these, perhaps?) to customers. Target wouldn't share any details, but it didn't deny the report when contacted by the Journal, and a Google spokesperson applauded the idea as one that would "create more choice for consumers." At this point, anything that convinces people that tapping a phone is better than swiping a card is probably a good deal for all involved.