Google Wallet Official Launch‎

Continuing their quest for commerce domination, Google today officially launched their innovative mobile payments technology, Google Wallet. The tech giant’s recent DailyDeal acquisition and push toward its Groupon competitor, Google Offers, have unavoidably foreshadowed the impending launch since first debuting the Google Wallet technology back in May.  Utilizing Near Field Communications, Google Wallet will allow users of similarly equipped mobile devices to simply swipe their phones across compatible card readers at checkout for quick and easy payments.

The technology is initially being backed by credit card merchants MasterCard and Citibank, while it is promising the support of other major credit card companies such as American Express, Visa, and Discover in the near future.  Google has also created the Google Prepaid MasterCard, a workaround for users who may not have a Citibank Mastercard.  Sprint is the only initial carrier partner and at this point, only users of the Nexus S 4G have the ability to test out Google Wallet.  It is likely that forthcoming Android-based devices will be adopted if they have NFC technology built-in.  While no timeframe has been laid out for expansion beyond its initial launch partners, Google’s Vice President of Payments, Osama Bedier stated, “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.”