With many things going mobile and digital, your Wallet hasn’t really been the one to convert over for quite some time. Sure there are payment methods online, but nothing actually replacing your wallet. Now, Google is trying to change this with their coming soon app, called Google Wallet. With Google Wallet, as a mobile app, you will be able to store credit cards, offers, gift cards, and loyalty cards right on your phone. Google has teamed up with Citi MasterCard, First Data and Sprint to help put Google Wallet on its way.
Wallet will first support both Google Prepaid Cards and Citi MasterCard’s and will be able to pay anywhere where MasterCard PayPass is accepted. So far, it’s only going to be available on the Nexus S 4G on the Sprint network, but Google plans to expand the selection to more phones over time. Google also hopes to expand this into boarding passes, IDs, tickets and even your keys.
PayPass and Google Wallet both use NFC or Near Field Communication, which allows for transactions within 4cm. Right now there are only a few phones that even support NFC, but expect that to change in the future if Google Wallet catches on.
