Business & Tech
Google Gets Into Wallets; BMW Reimagines the LCD Guage
In this week's tech news roundup, we bring you the latest developments of Mountain View companies.
Every week, Mountain View makes news with technology developments, discoveries and sometimes controversies.
Today, Mountain View Patch brings you its weekly tech round up column “Bits and Bytes,” where we’ll relay the past week’s news highlights from our backyard giants, start-ups and small businesses alike.
On Thursday Google announced a new service that would allow cell phone users with the Android operating system to use their phones in place of a plastic credit card. The service, called Google Wallet, will work at any retailer that can currently support the MasterCard PayPass technology. Beginning this summer, the mobile wallet will be available to Sprint customers with the Nexus 4G phone, with expansions to other phones, mobile carriers and credit card issuers expected to follow.
This week the social network for gamers, Raptr launched a personalized news feed that allows users to share and vote on information about the games they play. Raptr has grown to support 8 million registered users since its launch in 2007 and has raised $27 million in funding.
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Microsoft will relocate a business unit currently based here in Mountain View, as well as those in Palo Alto, to Moffett Towers in Sunnyvale. The software giant will move into the LEED Gold certified building in 2012, and will use the new space to expand several business units. The unit to be relocated is Tell Me Networks, according to Mountain View Economic Development Manager Ellis Berns.
Locally-based MobileIron, a company specializing in tracking and securing mobile phones used by employees, has raised an additional $20 million in funding this week. Over the past three months the company increased their staff by 30% and added 200 customers.
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The team at BMW's Technology Unit in Mountain View are working with their colleagues in Munich to develop a new generation LCD display for the luxury car line. Within two years, new BMW 5 and 7 series will receive the system, which will allow the driver to program certain settings and will streamline standard meters into a common gauge display.
