Google Wallet, Google Offers unveiled at event, Now pay with your phone with Google Wallet, Offers
Just as expected, Google unveiled its wireless payment system and its new Groupon-like deals site at a press event in New York on Thursday. Called Google Wallet and Google Offers, the two features can operate either separately or together to make it easier to pay for things in person and get deals while shopping.
"Our goal is to bring together all the pieces of the ecosystem. Your phone will be your wallet. Just tap, pay, and save," Google VP of commerce Stephanie Tilenius told the crowd. "We believe 2011 and beyond will be the age of MoLo—Mobile Local commerce."
Here's how the whole thing will work, starting with Google Offers. Just like Groupon, LivingSocial, and a plethora of other daily deal sites, a coupon for a local business will be sent to your inbox as an "offer of the day." It will also be able to send offers to people who check into certain businesses and make offers tied to certain places—Google said the service is "very contextually aware."
That's where Google Wallet comes in. Among other things, Google Wallet will be able to store your credit card information (Google's launch partners include MasterCard and Citi) as well as loyalty rewards, purchase points, and any saved-up Google Offers that might apply. Then, users who have Near Field Communications (NFC) enabled Android phones will be able to simply whip out their devices when shopping and tap them on electronic payment processors in order to get deals and pay for their goods.
Google said that more than 20,000 US merchants—including Macy's, Subway, American Eagle, Jamba Juice, CVS, and Walgreens—are already set up to work with Google Wallet, which functions with the PayPass systems that many merchants already have in their stores. Users don't even have to open up the Google Wallet app in order to pay, either; if they've already chosen which cards they want to use, they can simply tap the phone on the PayPass terminal.
But what about security? Google said that as long as the device's screen is off, NFC is disabled so that nearby skimmers can't steal any information. And NFC-capable Android phones—of which the Nexus S is the only one, for now—will store your credit card information on a secure chip that is both tamper- and laser-resistant. Even if you lose your phone, a thief wouldn't be able to extract the information on his own (though stopping that person from immediately buying thousands of Subway sandwiches with your phone could be a challenge).
The company said that the first markets it's targeting for Google Wallet are San Francisco and New York, with more on the way in the coming months. Google reps also said that more features are coming, such as digital receipts that transfer back to your Android device after you pay.
"We plan to aggressively enable everything a consumer would want to put in their wallet," Google VP of payments Osama Bedier said.
As we mentioned earlier, the Nexus S is currently the only Android phone available with NFC capabilities, but Sprint's Fared Adib said at the event that the carrier is working with Samsung, Motorola, and HTC to bring more NFC phones to the market. Google also indicated during a post-event Q&A that Google Wallet could even work with an NFC sticker on the back of a phone, and said that it's looking at bringing such stickers to market for those without NFC-capable phones.
Both Google Offers and Google Wallet have been rumored for some time now, so it was only a matter of time before the company made a public announcement. Apple is also expected to unveil a NFC-capable iPhone sometime in the future, but no one knows whether NFC will come as part of the next iPhone or the one after it.
Even if Apple does follow up with its own NFC offerings, it's clear that Google and its partners strongly believe in the future of Google Wallet. "There can be no doubt that today's announcement will be looked at as the inflection point where mobile payments move from concept to mass production," said Citi's Paul Galant.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/05/get-discounts-pay-with-your-phone-with-google-wallet-offers.ars
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