For the past week or so, there have been rumblings of Sprint working on its own NFC-based mobile payment service. Well, the folks over at Android Central has come across some snapshots of what The Now Network has planned.
In the screenshots obtained by the tech site, you can see support from the likes of McDonald’s, Barnes and Noble, Macy’s, Target, Best Buy, etc. The service seems to follow the same blueprint Google Wallet laid down, which is support for loyalty cards, full payments, or both. The mobile payment service will be called Touch Wallet.
Moreover, Touch Wallet will feature a passcode in order to unlock it, and it’ll show screen options, and the ability to see your credit cards if it’s attached to a card reader. For security purposes, the app locks up when the user is done. As someone who’s owned a Nexus S 4G, this sounds all too familiar.
One thing that remains a mystery is Sprint’s banking partners. What financial institutions is backing this? We also have no idea when Touch Wallet will be released. The urge to put out its own virtual wallet service could be related to Google Wallet’s failures so far. That said, it makes no sense to be working on your own mobile payment service when you already support one with Google Wallet. It’s just not smart, as money and resources could be better used in other areas.
[via Android Central]