If you’ve seen recent articles about Google+ and Google’s moves to acquire handset maker Motorola…then it should be clear that Google’s vehemence and focus on NFC and tying it together with Social Media are not just about mobile payments or competing with Facebook and Apple.
There’s a bigger focus and it becomes more apparent after relfecting on some of my older posts The Externet and NFC is about the eWallet Right? and Social Networks or Virtual Countries?
Identity is the killer app. Why? In order to accept and transact payments ( or any piece of information/data ) you need TRUST. Trust comes from knowing someone’s identity is real.
If Google can secure and hold your identity, YOUR REAL IDENTITY, then they’ve become a trusted global store / directory of people. Tie that together with NFC and your identity ( or the parts your willing to share with others: credit card numbers, names, phone numbers, pictures, really anything you share with people and businesses today ) becomes easily transferable between mobile devices, nfc readers and computers.
Ok, so what? What’s the big deal? For starters Google will make gobs of money off this through marketing, advertising, security, finance & banking, and academic research. They’ll do this the same way that they do through search advertising: minute transaction fees spread across monstrous volumes.
But more importantly NFC and Social Media will solve one of the biggest problems the internet has today. What is it?
Security.
It’s great to browse websites, but how many ids and passwords do you have? 50? 100? You’ve left a trail of different identity signatures over a myriad of databases across the world. As time goes on and you continue to use different sites; your security becomes increasingly likely to be stolen by hackers.
Not only is it insecure, but it’s down right annoying. Why can’t i just save my identity once. Then, while I’m on the internet it reveals the necessary parts to any website? Believe it or not…many have tried to solve this problem ( remember Microsoft Passport ?? ), but there’s no vested reason for me to sign up for OpenID other than “I”m sick of having so many ids and passwords.” That’s where social media comes in. There is a vested interest in things like Facebook or LinkedIn.
But before you think this is a problem relegated to the web….take a look around your brick and mortar neighborhood. The same problem exists. How do I know who you really are…quickly and reliably!!!!?? So that it doesn’t hold up a line and anger my other customers. This is where NFC comes in.
By tying together your real identity through a Social Media service like Google+ and an NFC enabled handset; I can now quickly transact pieces of your identity ( health, financial, personal, legal, or otherwise ) to third parties through NFC readers, other NFC phones, or even on the web once your laptop has an NFC reader too. ( Yes, it’s coming Jim Bob ). Your Android device and Google+ would be the gatekeeper to you.
Effectively, Google or Facebook or Twitter or Apple, would be a bank of identities, a directory with ancillary services tied to that identity. They could charge other businesses to access that directory on a transaction fee basis and provide services. This is a powerful business model and shouldn’t be discounted.
Within 6-9 months, if my post is accurate, I’d expect to see a headlong rush into identity services as global handset manufacturers proliferate NFC technology across the globe.
