Google Zetawire Acquisition Could Facilitate Android Mobile Gambling

Google-Zetawire Casino

In a deal which went largely unnoticed last August, Google acquired Zetawire, a startup company focused on mobile payment solutions and based in Toronto.

This deal was only recently uncovered by The 451 Group, an autonomous technology industry analytics firm devoted to enterprise IT innovation. The Zetawire acquisition is believed to be in support of Google’s ambition to create a payment solution built upon the Android smartphone’s Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The combination of a smart phone and a payment solution holds obvious promise towards mobile gambling.

Much of the Google-Zetawire deal remains shrouded in mystery. Yet, a patent filing for Zetawire reveals an interest in “mobile banking, advertising, identity management, credit card and mobile coupon transaction processing using NFC” as well as a registered trademark for “Walleto”.

To date, Google has only exposed intention of supporting an NFC-enabled Hotpot system which would enable payments by swiping Android 2.3 smartphones over Google Places tags. NFC is already integrated into the Google Nexus S with Android which will be more focused for online gambling.

However, Zetawire could provide a full mobile payment solution useful for day-to-day payments. With a full payment solution, Android casino users would no longer need to be 4 inches away from games at brick-and-mortar casinos. Instead, Android owners could use “Walleto” (assuming Google keeps that name for the payment processing service) to make direct payments to participating mobile casinos.

Google already owns a payment solution called Google Checkout which even before now is also available for mobile devices, but at present it does not support NFC. It is possible Zetawire’s technology will be integrated into Google Checkout instead of marketed as the separate brand “Walleto”.