Huh? What is Google Wallet? Google Wallet is a new service from Google (or more like an incoming service but it’ going to be available really soon in the U.S) where you can just use your phone by tapping it to make a credit purchase. So when you go to shops that have a Google Wallet reader, you can simply “swipe” your phone on the reader to make a purchase directly, quickly, and securely (with a PIN).
At this stage, Google Wallet only supports payment from Citi MasterCard, Google Prepaid Card, and gift cards (participating merchants only) but we were promised by Google that more card types (such as Visa) will be supported later on after the release.
Google explains it clearly with this image on how Google Wallet works:
You might have been wondering that this is all great (or not) but what good will it do if I cannot use it anywhere? Apparently, according to the official Google Wallet site, you can use Google Wallet to pay for your Ham & Turkey on Italian’s herb & cheese bread at Subway :) There are other participating merchants and more will be added, according to the “Where it works” page.
Google Wallet is coming to Android powered mobile phones although I’ve read that the next iPhone 5 will also have something like this embedded on the hardware chip? (or something along that line). Nevertheless, we are going to see a shift from paying our groceries by using a card to a phone. The only question is: Will this new technology hold? For how long? It will be useless if it is not being supported worldwide and also to major shops. Only time will tell.
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