Eric Schmidt, Was that a Nexus S Phone in Your Pocket?

Eric Schmidt knew the script. Minutes after getting on stage at a industry conference taking place this week in San Francisco, Google's CEO pulled out of his pocket an "unannounced phone" that everyone in the audience assumes will be the much-anticipated Nexus S.

Schmidt wasn't giving up many details - in fact the unit's logo was taped over - but he said it would feature a technology that may ultimately replace credit cards. The way Schmidt explains it, the newer phones based on Google's Android operating system will feature chips that will allow the phone's owner to complete transactions by tapping the device on a surface sensor. It will work with the next iteration of the Android operating system, popularly referred to as Gingerbread, which is expected to debut within the next several weeks. Schmidt didn't get more specific but that was good enough for the day's photo op (courtesy of Engadget.)

The Web 2.0 Summit is an annual conclave bringing together Internet entrepreneurs since the bursting of the dot com bubble in 2000.