NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Call this a shot heard around the mobile-payments world. In a blog post on Monday, Google announced “We’re.... acquiring some exciting technology and intellectual property from Softcard to make Google Wallet better.” That is terse, but it served as a wake-up call for payments executives. What does it mean? Here’s the short version. “The mobile wallet wars are heating up,” said Mark Ranta, a consultant at global payments company ACI Worldwide . The deal is about Google trying to claw the mobile-payments spotlight off Apple , which has been center stage for months. Google, in buying parts of Softcard, is yelling, "Don’t forget us." The history is that Google Wallet launched over two years ago and mobile carrier-owned Softcard, which was formerly known as Isis, launched nationally in November 2013. Both Google Wallet and Softcard had essentially sunk like stones, winning little fanfare or usage, as Apple won public acclaim and at least some usage for its Apple Pay. Apple CEO Tim Cook. in analyst calls, has gone on record claiming that Apple Pay represents two out of every three dollars moved in mobile payments. Good as that sounds, experts have told TheStreet that there are no public, concrete numbers for dollars moved in Apple Pay. It is thumping the competition, but the competition had effectively been hibernating. Now there are new signs of life that may stimulate intensified interest -- by consumers, also merchants -- in paying by phone. Exactly what Google acquired is unknown, as is the purchase price. "They probably got it at a fire-sale price,” said Nick Holland, an analyst at Javelin Strategy + Research who focuses on mobile. A month ago, when rumors of a Softcard-Google nuptial circulated, the whispered price tag was $100 million and, big as that may sound, it also is rumored that Softcard’s parents -- AT&T , T-Mobile and Verizon -- have put 10 times more than that into the venture. Holland added that Google may have wanted Softcard just to keep it out of the arms of other possible suitors. "They bought it to either get new momentum, or to keep another company from getting that momentum," said an executive with another payments company. His company was not involved in pursuing Softcard. Must Read: 10 Best Apple Products Ever What’s to want in Softcard? Softcard may have gotten essentially no traction, but it has definite pluses for Google. For instance, it works on comparatively secure Near Field Communication (NFC) chips found on essentially all new smartphones. Also, as merchants upgrade retail terminals to be compliant with the Oct. 1 deadline to be ready to accept so-called EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa , also known as chip and PIN) transactions, a minor additional expense, typically said be to be under $100 per terminal, will make them also ready for NFC, which also is what powers Apple Pay. Javelin’s Holland commented that in acquiring Softcard Google may have gained access to the so-called secure element, hardware inside a phone where financially sensitive data may be stored. That would make Google even with Apple, which has control of the secure element on its iPhone 6. With Google Wallet, Google had been denied access to the secure element on phones operated on AT&T,T-Mobile and Verizon, the three owners of Softcard. It had instead endorsed a software-based technology called Host Card Emulation, or HCE. It is not clear that actual access to the secure element represents a gain over HCE. But Holland suggested that it might help buff Google Wallet’s security story. Another Softcard plus is that it had what Google never achieved which is close ties to big banks. American Express , JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have current, close ties to Softcard. Neither Google nor Softcard has clarified whether those connections were included in the Google acquisition, but multiple sources indicated that was the word that had circulated. A last reason to buy Softcard: It may help Google stem flight from Android. Greg Weed, an executive with Phoenix Marketing International, said his company’s research found that millions of consumers have indicated they planned to shift from Android phones to Apple in order to obtain Apple Pay. A beefed-up Google Wallet may let Google and its Android handset manufacturers retain at least some of those consumers. Either way, Google is now seemly a newly refreshed competitor to Apple Pay, as Peter Nigro, a finance professor at Bryant University School of Business, said, "The mobile payments wars are about to get hotter." Must Read: 10 Stocks Carl Icahn Loves for 2015: Apple, eBay, Hertz and More
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