Water industry set to boom

SINGAPORE'S economy is expected to get a boost of at least $590 million per year through investments made in the water industry that would generate at least another 2,300 jobs over the next five years.

This is almost double what the industry contributed in 2005. It had then contributed $660 million to Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) and some 6,300 jobs.

The Environment and Water Industry Programme Office (EWI) - an inter-agency body comprising PUB, the Economic Development Board (EDB) and International Enterprise Singapore - formed in 2006, revealed these figures yesterday at a media briefing held at the Marina Barrage.

Mr Yeoh Keat Chuan, EDB's assistant managing director, said that EWI has already crossed the halfway mark towards its target of contributing $1.7 billion to Singapore's GDP and 11,000 jobs by 2015.

The agency is confident that it will be able to reach this target by then, he added.

The EWI said the addition to the GDP and injection of new jobs stem from new projects secured by the industry from 2006 to last year. They will be added to the economy when the projects are fully realised.

The majority of the new jobs are expected to go to highly skilled professionals, such as engineers for high-value manufacturing and research engineers.

About 70 per cent of these jobs are expected to go to Singaporeans and permanent residents.

Google Wallet: Search giant introduces automatic cellphone payment system

Google unveiled a new digital wallet program Thursday that enables a cellphone to act just like a credit card, giving the search giant its first footing in the business of providing consumer financial services.
A chip inside new Android phones - for now, only one model has it - will allow shoppers to wave their devices in front of a reader to pay for clothes and food at the mall or grocery, the company said. Eventually, Google said, it envisions the cellphone to act as a personal financial hub for coupons, merchant loyalty points, payments and receipts.
The company also announced that Google Offers, a coupon service to compete with discount sites such as Groupon or LivingSocial, will be tested in select cities.
The idea of mobile payments has intrigued smartphone makers such as Apple, Research in Motion and Google - and worried credit card firms. Until now, the cost of installing payment chips has kept carriers from signing on, as has haggling over how the transaction fees should be divided, said Michael Grossi, a telecom analyst at Altman Vilandrie & Co.
For now, Google has decided not to take a cut of these fees, which generate billions of dollars for the likes of Visa, American Express and J.P. Morgan Chase. Instead it will rely on revenue generated by the increase in traffic to its Web sites, its new coupon initiative and the sale of more Android phones.
Yet Google may face a challenge in persuading consumers to entrust the company with their financial information, some analysts said.
Social-media expert Josh Mackey said transparency for Google is key, particularly after its settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over whether it violated consumers' privacy when it launched its social networking service Buzz.
"They know that all eyes are going to be on them," Mackey said.
In a frequently-asked-questions page on the Google Wallet site, Google said it will not have access to users' financial information or purchase history. The company will record the time of a purchase locally on a user's phone and have access only to which coupons a user has redeemed.
When asked if Google will be using the data for targeted advertisements, Google spokesman Nathan Taylor said, "No, we are not."
Google's electronic wallet will launch over the summer, with trials beginning in San Francisco and New York City. Sprint's co-branded Nexus S 4G already has the payment chip inside.
Users will need to download the Google Wallet application to begin using the service. The first retailers that will accept the mobile payments include Macy's, Subway, Walgreens, Toys "R" Us, Bloomingdale's and Guess. The service can be linked directly to a Citi MasterCard, a Google partner in the initiative. Separately, the balance on Google Wallet can also be funded from any credit card.
Google said the chip cannot be accessed by passersby or by malicious software applications designed to steal information.
Users need a PIN to access the app, and financial data are stored on a tamper-resistant chip isolated from the phone's hardware and software, MasterCard spokeswoman Joanne Trout said. At the point of purchase, the transmitter sends a unique, dynamic account number to verify the transaction.
"At the end of the day, it's the same as a card," Trout said. "If there are fraudulent purchases, customers have zero liability."
The success of MasterCard's PayPass system - which allows shoppers to simply tap their cards on a reader rather than swipe - shows there is demand for "contactless" payments.
"There will be demand for this technology as long as there are enough retailers and enough phones," Grossi said.

Microsoft Aims to Support Higher Prices for Window Phone Applications

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will support higher prices on mobile-phone
applications from outside developers to encourage better products, rather
than embracing the free or 99- cent apps common in other companies' stores.
"I'd rather developers sell fewer than a million downloads and get to a
million dollars," Brandon Watson, director of an apps developer program for
Microsoft, said in a press briefing in Helsinki. "If we can support a
higher price point that's good for developers."
Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) adopted Windows Phone 7 as its primary smartphone platform
in February, saying that it will give the Finnish phone company and its
developers more opportunities to produce distinctive products than Google
Inc. (GOOG)'s Android, which was also considered. Microsoft on May 24
announced handset agreements with Acer Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., and ZTE Corp., as
well as 500 features to be added in the fall release of Windows Phone 7.
"Nokia expands distribution quite a bit, including China, India, Russia --
it's very important to have a marketplace in those countries where
developers can sell local apps," Watson said in an interview. "China is
going to be very, very big."
Nokia intends to release its first Windows phones in the fourth quarter,
Watson said, adding that he was reiterating guidance from Nokia's
smartphones chief, Jo Harlow. Along with the handsets, Nokia will open its
own app store for Windows Phone and is working with Microsoft to convince
the thousands of developers for its Symbian software to write for Windows
Phone as well, he said.
Different Look
"It will look slightly different on the phone from the one that's for all
the other vendors, and they will have more control over the merchandising,"
he said. "Nokia's invested tons of money around building apps, so one of
my main jobs right now is ensuring that we don't lose a single developer to
Android or iOS," he added, referring to Apple Inc.'s mobile-phone
operating system.
Further features beyond those already introduced, such as face-recognition
software and voice dictation for messages, will be announced in the coming
weeks for the fall release, code- named Mango, Watson said.
"We announced most of the major stuff, but there are more delighters
coming," he said at the briefing, which took place at an event for app
developers.