Google: Don’t Leave Home Without It
A friend of mine recently posted the following as her Facebook status: “Trying not to stress about my wallet that was left in the parking lot at a Mesa Starbucks today! Praying some kind person will mail it to me, or at least not steal my identity. Just "stuff" that can all be replaced, right? *bbreeeeaathhhee*.”
I think we have all been able to relate to her feelings at some point in our life (several times, myself). But the days of worrying about a wallet or losing credit/debit cards will soon be in the past. Thanks to the newest product release from Google, appropriately called Google Wallet, your phone will replace that leather thing you’ve been carrying with you everywhere you go. As of now, the app is in field testing and only compatible with the Nexus S 4G by Google, available on Sprint. However, according to the most recent blog post by Google, it will soon be available to all consumers with phones that are capable of utilizing near field communication (NFC). In addition to Sprint, the search engine giant has already established partnerships with Citi, MasterCard, and First Data to support the app.
According to the Rob von Behren and Jonathan Wall, Founding Engineers of Google Wallet, the goal of the app is to make it “easier for [consumers] to pay and save on the goods [they] want, while giving merchants more ways to offer coupons and loyalty programs to customers, as well as bridging the gap between online and offline commerce.” And for those merchants who have already jumped on the mobile commerce bandwagon, this app will seamlessly bind the ability to use credit cards, offers, loyalty cards, and gift cards without the inconvenience of a bulky wallet. Eventually the app will also integrate things such as boarding passes, tickets, IDs, and even keys. The concept of a mobile wallet is certainly not new (this technology has been in the works for years); however, there have been challenges in getting it adopted by all the parties involved. It requires integration of mobile phone carriers, banks, credit card issuer’s payment networks, and technology companies. Wondering how it works? Here’s how it’s explained in an article in the New York Times:
Sounds easy enough, right? Now the trick will just be in getting all of the stakeholders involved to come to agreement on integration and the payouts they’ll receive. With the assumption by market researcher Gartner that “Demand for mobile wallet service is expected to be great, with the total value of mobile transactions reaching $245 billion in 2014” the pieces of the pie will surely be big enough for everyone. And once that’s settled, we’ll finally be catching up to speed with other countries such as Africa, where phones have already started to replace cash, and Japan, where they’ve already been swiping phones at convenience stores and bus stops for years.
If you are among the many who are concerned about the security of your personal financial information, you can read an article on Gizmodo that explains the safety measures in place (the NFC chip is even protected against laser attacks… yes, seriously). Or, if you’re curious to know how Google envisions this most recent technological advancement in mobile commerce to unfold, check out the page they’ve dedicated to the Wallet.
Even for someone like me, who is always a little skeptical of storing personal data on my phone, I see this as a big win for at least one reason: it means there’s one less thing to worry about losing.
About the Author: Lauren Abbott
View more blog posts from Lauren Abbott >
Contact Lauren
0 comments so far