In January, rumors surfaced that Google Inc. was in talks to acquire NFC-based mobile payments service, Softcard. On Monday, Google officially announced that it had purchased “technology and intellectual property” from Softcard to improve its own mobile payments service, Google Wallet.

Softcard, formerly known as Isis Mobile Wallet, is owned by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile and was launched in 2010 as a joint effort to enter the mobile payment market. Softcard works mainly with NFC-enabled Android smartphones and has been a competitor to Google Wallet from the outset.

Following the 2011 release of Google Wallet, all three carriers behind Softcard blocked Google’s mobile payments service, severely limiting Google’s market penetration. Both services faced further obstacles when smartphone makers were slow to include NFC into their handsets and retailers didn’t upgrade to NFC-enabled payment terminals fast enough. The latter is an issue that prevails even today.

As part of the deal, the carriers will allow the Google Wallet app to be pre-installed on all Android phones going forward.

“So today, we’re excited to announce that we’re working with AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, as well as their mobile payments company Softcard, to help more Android users get the benefits of tap and pay. Under this relationship, the Google Wallet app, including the tap and pay functionality, will come pre-installed on Android phones (running KitKat or higher) sold by these carriers in the US later this year. We’re also acquiring some exciting technology and intellectual property from Softcard to make Google Wallet better.”

The deal comes at a time when consumers, credit providers and retailers are sitting up and taking note of mobile payments thanks largely to the recent success of Apple Pay.

Last week Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced its purchase of Apple Pay competitor, LoopPay, in an effort to develop its own mobile payments service.

The announcement did not make it clear whether Softcard will continue as a standalone mobile payments service or be absorbed into Google Wallet entirely. In a separate blog post, Softcard said that existing users can carry on using the Softcard service and that the company will share further information with customers and partners in the coming weeks.

Image via Softcard