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Google Wallet could offer revenue sharing for carrier support, says Bloomberg

Google Wallet could offer revenue sharing for carrier support, says Bloomberg

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Google Wallet's slow adoption and the departure of two key executive is making the company rethink its Wallet strategy, according to a report from Bloomberg.

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Google Wallet NFC taxi contactless payment (1020
Google Wallet NFC taxi contactless payment (1020

Google Wallet's adoption rate, even from the outside looking in, isn't pretty. The number of devices that support the mobile payment system is pretty small — even the company's flagship Galaxy Nexus LTE doesn't have it for Verizon (not officially, anyway). The sentiment from within the Googleplex isn't much better, according to Bloomberg, and its Wallet strategy is shifting in response to both the slow adoption rate and the departure of two key members, Lead Product Manager Marc Freed-Finnegan and software co-creator Jonathan Wall. (Both left to form mobile shopping-focused startup Tappmo, Inc.) Options reportedly being explored include revenue sharing with (and other incentives for) carriers like AT&T and Verizon, both of which currently support competing system ISIS.

Even without carrier support, Google plans to push ahead with the Wallet initiative. The company could alternatively rely more on in-store terminals, according to the report, which would necessitate additional hardware and software for the terminals. Either way, the company is hiring for eight new positions, and if the aggressive ad campaign and Sprint partnership is any indication, Google Wallet is here to stay for quite some time.