Several companies have been providing the necessary chips to allow for waving you phone over a device which would register the sale and add the purchase directly to you cell phone bill or act as a direct charge to your bank account. Adding the necessary software into those chips and you have all that is necessary for the smart phone to handle the transaction. Information Week, on a report from the Web 2.0 Summit meeting in San Francisco this week, shows a commitment from the coming Andoid 2.3 OS for mobile payments. Eric Schmodt, Google CEO, has stated their next OS will have the ability to support “near-field communication chips for mobile payments”. With this statement and the coming OS, we can expect much more activities in the mobile wallet in the next year.

Sprint is linking credit cards to mobile phones this year, according to PC World, which has the capability built into many of the phones now being sold. While things have been moving slowly, it does appear to be gaining momentum.

The future in this area is now starting to emerge and we should see a number of companies producing chips for the smart phones and new devices for retailers for waving your phone over to make a purchase. Another company, shopkick is providing location based services for stores like Macy’s, Best Buy, Target and others. You do not have to check in with typical location services, but an app you download to your smart phone will recognize you are in a particular store and may award you points for being in that store. The process allows for getting additional discount coupons on your smart phone which can be scanned.