Google Wallet: NFC's North American Beachhead

Yesterday, Google announced the launch of Google Wallet, a system that uses near-field communication devices inside of mobile phones to send payments. At this time the system is only supported in the US on Samsung Nexus S 4G "Google Phone" wireless devices. Sprint is the only carrier offering support, with Citi PayPass MasterCard credit cards as the primary supported payment method. There are also virtual prepaid credit card options through Google and many other payment methods coming up quickly. In addition to payments, Google Wallet will keep receipts, and store multiple cards, coupons and loyalty programs.

The system may have slightly limited support at launch, but the range of future applications is mind-blowing. Google is currently testing links between Google Wallet and their other products, such as Google Maps, Google Latitude, and Google Offers. It’s possible that a user may be able to be pushed a coupon for local businesses (imagine walking by your favourite restaurant and having a coupon sent to your phone) or that retailers will be able to issue coupons via mobile and easily track when and where they’re being redeemed via Google Wallet.

Near-field communication payment systems on mobile went mainstream back in 2005 in Japan and South Korea, and now are widely accepted. Google’s challenge now is getting the system’s device support expanded quickly enough - and payments accepted widely enough – to take advantage of the appetite in the North American market for payments via mobile phone.

Posted by Dan Biggs at May 27, 2011 9:30 AM

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