NXP says it is 'Google Wallet' chip supplier

May 30, 2011 // Peter Clarke

As Google launched its 'Google Wallet' application for Android smartphones NXP has stressed that it is NXP technology and chips that are enabling the application.

At an event in New York Google, Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint unveiled the mobile payment service Thursday (May 26) saying they plan to roll out the service in the United States over the summer. At commercial launch, Google Wallet will support payments with two payment solutions: a PayPass eligible Citi MasterCard and a virtual Google prepaid card. The first release of Google Wallet is expected to be released on the Nexus S 4G on the Sprint network.

Google relegated its discussion of the hardware behind its wallet to a single sentence saying Google Wallet uses near field communication (NFC) to make secure payments fast and convenient by simply tapping the phone on any PayPass-enabled terminal at checkout.

NXP put outs its own statement saying it was there in New York at the birth of the electronic wallet. "With NXP's secure contactless NFC solution, consumers can simply wave their phones over intelligent surfaces to pay for goods, apply a discount coupon, or receive loyalty points," the company stated.

It added that its NXP that provides the PN65 component that is the embedded, secure NFC solution for the Google Wallet and that NXP was instrumental in building the application.

The PN65 includes the NFC radio controller, the embedded secure element and NFC software in a single device. The secure element provides cryptographic processing to keep mobile transactions secure. The company said its security technology has shipped in over a billion units used in payment and bank cards, access management schemes, mass transit infrastructures, passports, driver's licenses, national ID and health cards.

"NXP's NFC technology essentially converts smart phones into loyalty cards, single-tap location 'check in' devices, concert tickets, coupon carriers, contactless payment devices, transit tickets, and secure keys to access cars, hotel rooms, buildings, and computers -- the possibilities are endless," said Ruediger Stroh, executive vice president and general manager of the identification business unit at NXP, in a statement.

NXP co-founded the NFC Forum in 2004 to help introduce the technology and has had its hardware and software deployed in more than 150 field trials.

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