There once was a time when people scoffed at the idea of purchasing things with the swipe of a tiny, rectangular plastic card. People didn’t have to actually carry any money, there was never any change back, and the process seemed too cryptic to really take hold. It would never work.
Well, we all know that isn’t the case anymore. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, the list goes on and on for that tiny, plastic magic-money-swiping card. And now we have another fight for the next best payment system, lead by none other than Google (Surprised?).
This week Google announced a new mobile payment service, Google Wallet. It is an Android app that “makes your phone your wallet.” It stores virtual versions of your existing plastic cards on your phone. Using Near Field Communication, Google Wallet is able to transfer your card information to the register, when tapped to the appropriate register or payment terminal.
So much critical information stored on your phone sounds a little un-nerving to me, especially when I think of all the “I lost my phone, need your number” events I get on Facebook. However, Google reassures us that it is safer than a traditional wallet because you set up a Google Wallet PIN that must be entered before making a purchase. Osama Bedier, Google's vice president of payments, assures that the mobile payments system is more secure than credit and debit cards with magnetic stripes, and that Google Wallet is designed to enable safe, secure payments.
Google said Thursday that it's launching a trial of its payment system in San Francisco and New York in cooperation with MasterCard and Citibank. It is opening it up to consumers in the summer. It then plans to expand across the country.
Google Wallet isn’t the first to dream up a new payment system that combines phones, retailers and banks, and it won’t be long until other cellphone companies and Visa launch their own competition. But the question remains: will Google Wallet be able to tap out on top?