Google Wallet, a smart phone app that allows users to swipe or tap their phone to make payments at registers, officially launched this past Monday.
The app allows users to store credit card information on their phone and then use the phone itself in proximity of a register to pay with said credit card, rather than having to carry and use the card itself.
The phone connects wirelessly with the register using a Near-Field Communications (NFC) chip, which allows for secure wireless connection between devices within a certain distance of each other.
When a user brings up Google Wallet, they must enter a four-digit pin before the card selection screen will appear.
Once the user has then selected a card whose information they have saved in their phone, they can wave the phone or tap it upon the corresponding card reader and the NFC chips in both devices will connect, in turn making the payment.
Currently, the app is only available for the Samsung Nexus S offered by Sprint and only Citibank and MasterCard are partners with Google at launch.
This means that currently Google Wallet only works with those readers that have MasterCard’s PayPass NFC chip installed, which currently sits at roughly 144,000 locations.
Users without a Citibank MasterCard can use any other credit card to charge a Google Prepaid MasterCard already provided with Google Wallet, allowing them to siphon money from cards other than Citibank MasterCards, a temporary solution while Google gathers more partners.
“In the future, our goal is to make it possible for you to add all of your payment cards to Google Wallet, so you can say goodbye to even the biggest traditional wallets,” clarified Osama Bedier, the vice president of payments at Google.
Google announced they are in talks with other card companies such as Visa, American Express and Discover for use of NFC technology to allow for users to store cards from those companies and use them in the future.
In an interview with CNET, the president of Visa John Partridge revealed the process may take a few months.
“What has to happen next is that the banks have to agree to give access to their payment credentials,” stated Partridge. “Those discussions are already under way. But in terms of logistics, I’d say it’s a matter of months. Not a long period of time.”
Google Wallet may be the first digital wallet of its kind but in the wake of its release competitors are announcing their plans to release their own digital wallets in the future.
AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA are planning to release their own digital wallet through their Isis partnership while rumors are still swirling around the possibility that the iPhone 5 may contain NFC technology.
