New Android OS lets Google Wallet work around NFC block
Confirming rumors, the new Android operating system that was released on Thursday supports Host Card Emulation, which will let Google work around carrier restrictions on its mobile wallet. Previously, the wallet needed access to the Secure Element, which is controlled by telecommunications companies.
As Finextra reports, the Google Wallet has been stymied in the U.S. because telcos haven't supported Google's payments applications on the Secure Element in the NFC chip. Verizon Wireless in particular has flatly refused to support the wallet over alleged security concerns, though the company's reticence is widely believed to be a protectionist move to prop up the telcos' Isis consortium NFC play.
Read Finextra's report here.
To read Android.com's more technical breakdown of the new KitKat OS, click here.
Learn more about contactless/NFC.