SAN FRANCISCO — Aiming to undercut Apple’s latest hit service, Google is teaming up with three major U.S. wireless carriers to prod more people into using its mobile wallet.
The counterattack announced Monday is just the latest example of how the competition between Google Inc. and Apple Inc. is extending beyond the technology industry’s traditional boundaries. Besides payments, Silicon Valley’s two richest companies are expanding into fields such as home appliances and cars to increase their power and profits.
Google’s latest volley calls for its payment service to be built into Android smartphones sold by AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA later this year. Smartphone owners currently have to download the service, called Google Wallet, and install the app on their phone if they want to use it to buy something instead of pulling out cash or a credit card.
Apple’s rival service, Apple Pay, already comes embedded in the latest versions of the company’s mobile software.
Besides trying to make it more convenient to use Wallet, Google also is hoping to improve the nearly 4-year-old service. Toward that end, Google Inc. is buying some mobile payment technology and patents from Softcard, a 5-year-old venture owned by the wireless carriers. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Although Google and the wireless carriers got a head start with their digital wallets, the concept hadn’t gained much traction until Apple Pay debuted last fall.
Just three months after Apple Pay’s November debut, CEO Tim Cook said the service accounted for two out of every three dollars spent across the three major U.S. card networks, when no card was used.
