I found most of the comments to be quite exceptional, far better than the run-of-the-mill chatsite, almost empeg bbs quality.
The one that impressed me the most was this one:
Some people are saying it's hw/sw integration, and others are all about patent trolling. In reality, this is part of Google's effort to strengthen its position in eCommerce, specifically mobile and POS payments.
Put an RFID chip in every phone and you instantly get an EMV-compliant card replacement and an EMV-compliant card acceptance point. Forget all that Square magstripe bs - this would be the real thing. Combine it with Google Wallet and you have an end-to-end solution where anyone can make or accept payments via their phone. With Google controlling the hw and the sw they can set the standards. To make it even more interesting, think of what would happen if/when Google buys MasterCard.
Go ahead with this and you'll have every taxi driver, flea market, convention booth and convenience store in the country with cheap access to payments issuance and acceptance. Now move that model to Africa and the Middle East. The future of mobile isn't handsets - it's payments.
If what he says is true, Google could become a serious PayPal competitor.
I'm not sure I'm quite so much in agreement. I think that's a nice
possible side benefit that Google will get, but I think the patent acquisition is clearly the biggest reason for this purchase.
Besides, there are already several solutions that give those people (taxi drivers, flea markets, etc) access to cheap mobile payments. The aforementioned Square gives them that. Yes, NFC is probably a good goal, but it's going to be a LONG transition to the point where you'll be able to leave your card at home.
A quick additional gripe: I think that commenter also doesn't understand what "patent trolling" means. Google is trying to buy patents to defend actual products they have a hand in. That's not trolling.
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