Google Wallet was announced by Google yesterday which brings the ability to use your smartphone to make mobile payments. By using an NFC enabled smartphone (Nexus S), you can store your card details in the phone and then make payment using the MasterCard PayPass system. For those without an NFC enabled smartphone, we hear from TechCrunch that special stickers will be used to make payment although this iteration of the system is more limited than the fully fledged NFC way.
Google Wallet is an app that will be launched soon on Android smartphones. When launched, card details, loyalty cards and gift cards will be capable of being stored. This means that you can carry your wallet around with you, without the bulk of all the cards. Looking forwards to the future, Google also comment that boarding passes, ID cards and keys will also be able to be stored in Google Wallet.
Google Wallet will initially support Citi MasterCard and Google Prepaid Cards. To make this more compatible, Google will allow you to fund both of these sources with your regular card.
Using Google Wallet on your Android smartphone will also allow you to store various offers on the device of which can be redeemed at many locations.
As well as offering the Wallet service, Google is also opening up to other developers with APIs that will allow for other 3rd party systems to be integrated.
More details about Google Wallet can be found over at Google.
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