Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past 13 years – you must have heard the name “Google”, and unless you grow your own veg and hunt your own game – you must own a wallet… Right? Well google has recently unveiled its new wireless payment system at a press event in New York – the “Google Wallet“.
Google Wallet will allow Google to have NFC (Near Field Communication) built in most of upcoming Android devices. For those hunter/gatherers out there – NFC is a wireless technology, which among other usages, will allow you to replace your credit card with your smartphone. Combining that with the “Google Offers” program makes the whole shopping experience as easy as “tap, pay, and save.” To pay for a meal at a restaurant – all you’ll need to do is wave your phone in front of an NFC-chip reader – something a la Minority Report. We’ve literally gone from a “cash-less” society (credit cards) to the infancy of a “card-less” society.
It’s a little bit risky though, and i can smell an army of hackers waiting to capitalise on this. If your phone contained all of your money, there would be a significantly larger incentive for hackers to get their hands on it. Really though – how hard is it to swipe a credit card? Is using your phone really that much easier? Or is it just another way to show off your fancy gadgets? Google’s success or failure with the Wallet looks like a bit of a coin toss. One thing is certain though, if mobile payments finally take hold and go mainstream Google will be a big player in the industry.
I personally, would rather go back to barter system and think Google should stick to search engines.
Jason