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Columnist Alistair Fairweather recently published an article detailing 4 different Mobile Payments Models. With one caveat, the analysis is one of the best-written and most succinct written on the topic to date; a must read for anyone who wants to take a crash course in Mobile Payments.

Mr. Fairweather clearly indicated that his list was not exhaustive with his comment, “There are at least a half dozen different approaches competing to become the de facto format.” However, the model that is notably missing is one the includes payments as a component, and not the sole function: the Wallet model. The Google Wallet (often categorized as a payment method) uses the ‘Wallet” model,which  produces no revenue for Google directly from payments; the revenue from payments remains intact for the banks, processors and ISO’s and the ‘Wallet’ is simply a form-factor replacement for a plastic card.  But, Google is not a non-profit; they will make plenty of money from this model; Here’s how:  Continue reading →