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Google CEO Eric Schmidt has demonstrated near field communication, a feature set to appear in the next version of Android allowing it to act as a touch-contact payment system.
Schmidt showed off the device in an interview at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco although he refused to be drawn on the specific hardware shown, an unannounced smartphone widely assumed to be the upcoming Nexus S follow up to the firm’s Nexus One ‘Google Phone’.
Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ will contain support for near field communication chips which can allow communication with a variety of secure billing systems, effectively turning the phone into a form of e-wallet. Schmidt said that the next version of Android would appear in the ‘next few weeks.’
No manufacturer for the Nexus S was mentioned but the case does bare more than a passing resemblance to products from Samsung. Samsung was erroneously rumoured to be launching the Nexus S at an event which turned out to be the dual screen Continuum.
Engadget snapped some shots of Schmidt with the new phone.
Photo source: Engadget.
