Google looks at payments by mobile phone

The emergence of a patent filing has stoked speculation that Google is working on a mobile phone-based payments service dubbed “Gpay” that could be rolled out by the internet search giant with a new phone handset.

Speculation hit fever pitch last week over the possible shape of Google’s next foray into telecoms as a host of blogs carried pictures of what was claimed to be a low-cost, internet enabled handset – the “Gphone”.

The fresh patent, which was filed last year by Google but has only just been published, describes how a text message from a mobile phone could trigger a “computer-implemented method of effectuating an electronic on-line payment”.

from Times online