By :
Elmar Sandyck
I was chatting online with a blogger yesterday and we got into an animated discussion about Google's latest baby - the Google Wallet."Tap, pay, and save with Google Wallet.In the past few thousand years, the way we pay has changed just three times—from coins, to paper money, to plastic cards.We are now about to experience the next big transformation."So goes Google's vision for Google Wallet.Google Wallet is a phone application that literally turns your phone into a wallet at the point of sale.The Launch is supposed to be Google's way to make mobile shopping a pleasurable experience for businesses especially for the consumers. From the part of the consumer, payment is made even easier; and, from the merchants or businesses' end, promos, discounts and offers like coupons to be given away and loyalty programs can now be easily facilitated. Credit cards can also be put in. In the future, Google Wallet is envisioning that airline boarding passes and tickets, ID and even keys could be stored in it!Google is still in the process of field-testing it in the US and is working alongside Citi, MasterCard, Sprint, First Data as well as a few number of retailers. Expect it to be launched officially in the summer.Google Wallet is combining NFC or near-field communication with what they are calling PN65, a secure element chip paired with NFC. There is no need of swiping.It supposedly works in two very easy steps: Look for the Google Wallet or MasterCard PayPass symbols at checkout. And just simply tap your phone into the reader!Voila! Payment has been processed and made.Well, you have to hand it to Google to market it anew as if it were something revolutionary when in fact; this concept is not totally new or foreign at all. I would like to think that the reason Google has partnered with MasterCard on this endeavor is that the latter has been using tapping of credit cards to wirelessly pay instead of swiping the card (the concept behind the MasterCard PayPass).And here's a little trivia for you that was passed to me re: Google Wallet: the VP of Payments of Google used to be PayPal.Well, if you want to know and read more about Google Wallet you can check it out in their official website.
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