The PC keeps on finding new ways to stay relevant
First there was the laptop. Then netbooks. Now Ultrabooks.The competition for payment processing services, especially mobile payments, is heating up.Last week Google kicked it up a notch by announcing that it’s phasing out Google Checkout in favor of the new Google Wallet. This service supports in-store tap-to-pay payments from your phone via near field communications technology, as well as purchases on the web.If you log in to your Google Checkout account now, you’ll be notified that you’ve been switched over to Google Wallet.
Any credit cards or other payment information you’ve saved in Google Checkout will be available in Google Wallet.The iPad isn’t going to kill the PC entirely, but experts say it’s slowing purchases of laptops, particularly small notebook PCs like netbooks. When Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) said it was considering getting out of the PC business in August, then-CEO Leo Apotheker cited as a prime reason that “the tablet effect is real.”The catch: Google Wallet isn’t yet widely used for in-store purchases.
“To compete with media tablets, notebook PCs must become sexier and more appealing to consumers,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst at IHS. “Enter the Ultrabook, which borrows some of the form-factor and user-interface advantages of the media tablet.”So far its NFC payments are enabled only for Sprint Nexus S users who also have a Citibank MasterCard or a Google prepaid card, and who are making purchases at MasterCard PayPass-enabled merchant locations.
Intel describes an Ultrabook as a notebook PC that is thinner than 0.8 inches, has Flash memory, can be turned on instantly, is always connected and has a battery life of longer than eight hours.Unlike netbooks — which typically have cramped keyboards, sluggish processors and stripped-down versions of Windows XP — Ultrabooks have full-sized keyboards, run the latest version of Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) Windows and will feature Intel’s newest chipsets.
That list rivals the features found in the iPad and similar tablets — and, of course, the MacBook Air.But in the coming year, more U.S. smartphones will be equipped with NFC, bringing a variety of tap-to-pay or wave-to-pay options to consumers. A competing NFC-based mobile phone payment system, ISIS, is launching in some markets (Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City) in 2012.In May, Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) first unveiled the Ultrabook — a name it trademarked.
