Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Google Wallet

Whilst still in its infancy, Google recently rolled out its mobile wallet payment system. At present, it is only linked with Citi-Mastercards and Google prepaid card. 
This means that when you are in a taxi or at certain retail outlets, you can simply tap or wave your phone to make a payment. 
The most incredible part of this feature is what Google is calling SingleTap. This feature means that users can combine their coupons, loyalty cards and payment method all within one 'tap'. The user merely needs to save coupons and/or loyalty cards to the App for future use. 
Some of the current merchants partnered with Google Wallet are:



Champs SportsCoca-ColaCVS
Jack in the BoxPeet’s Coffee & TeaRadioShack




Macy's, Bloomingdales,Guess, Subway and quit a few others are also in the pipeline and locked in to get on 
board with Google wallets. What a shift! From coins, to paper money, to plastic cards... and now virtual payment 
facilities. Do you think this is a smart move in the right direction? Or a hackers dream and a security risk for all its users?




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6 comments:

  1. Wags21 September 2011 at 12:41 am

    Thanks Kate - a great new service. Pity that the hackers manage to find a way to sort all new things like this... I wonder how long it will take them?

    I'll certainly be using it, as soon as I can afford a handset that's compatible!

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  2. rossouwe22 September 2011 at 6:57 am

    I love the idea, it is awesome! I will have to admit though that Aus is a little behind in where credit cards are accepted and now where paywave facilities are installed. I know in the US you can pay at even the small milk bar on the corner with credit card and assume that soon these paywave facilities will be available there too. But what an awesome idea, I will however need to be careful not too spend too much after a few beers seeing as it will be so easy. Especially when it first gets launched, could be an interesting party trick, which could be bad for my google wallet.
    Ross

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  3. rossouwe22 September 2011 at 7:00 am

    @Wags, won't any Android phone be able to do it? In regards to hackers, I'm confident Google will work very hard to avoid that, and if it happens, they will fix it, I'm sure.
    Ross

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  4. Wags22 September 2011 at 8:19 pm

    Unfortunately it requires a high-end Android phone. Basic ones don't have the communications hardware built in yet. Eventually it will become standard, but not yet, so my Huawei definitely won't be capable!

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  5. rossouwe23 September 2011 at 2:18 am

    Ah ok, I see. Is this actually available in Aus yet?

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  6. Wags23 September 2011 at 7:45 pm

    Not officially yet: Read more here.

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