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Google & Samsung move to counter Apple Pay debut

Google has stoked the fire burning underneath the mobile payments industry by announcing its acquisition of “some exciting technology and intellectual property from Softcard to make Google Wallet better.” The payment software will come pre-installed as standard on Android phones running KitKat or higher with three of the big four carriers across the USA, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Alibaba to launch own mobile OS?

Chinese e-Commerce behemoth Alibaba is reported to be building its own mobile operating system for launch in the third quarter of this year. The OS is likely to be cloud-based – the group has had a dedicated “Alibaba Cloud Computing” unit since 2009, which is now reported to be working on the project.