Google Wallet

Google Wallet Now Works With Multiple Credit Cards

You might have heard that Google has an app called Wallet that lets you pay for things by tapping your phone instead of pulling out a credit card - but chances are you haven't used it.
That is because it has worked only for people with Citibank accounts, MasterCards and a certain kind of Sprint phone. Now, Google has changed Wallet so people can use it with any credit card. The catch is that they still need one of just six Sprint or Virgin Mobile phones (or Google's Nexus 7 tablet, but
pulling out a tablet at a cash register seems more difficult than just using a credit card.)
The change that Google made allows the phones access to credit card data stored in the cloud, which means any credit card numbers used to make a purchase in the Google Play store or to buy something online with Google Checkout. Storing payment information in the cloud also means that a user can disable Wallet online if a phone is stolen.
Before, Google stored payment information on a secure piece of the chip inside phones, for which it had to get permission from mobile carriers, banks and credit card companies. That meant endless negotiations with the thousands of banks issuing credit cards.
"We realized this was not going to be a very scalable model and it would literally take a lifetime to complete all that work," said Robin Dua, head of product management for Google Wallet.
Now, people can use their cards on Google Wallet without the banks' doing anything, or banks can connect with Wallet to allow users to place cards in the app from a bank's Web site and view a picture of a card when the app is used.
Google joins many services, including Square, LevelUp and PayPal, that are trying various ways to let people use their cellphones to pay for things in the real world. Banks are also testing mobile wallets, and Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have created one called Isis that they say will be available this year. The challenge is that mobile payments require agreement by banks, credit card companies, retailers, cellphone carriers and payment networks.
Google Wallet uses a technology called near-field communication, or N.F.C., for cellphones and cash registers to communicate wirelessly, so retailers need point-of-sale systems that include N.F.C. About 200,000 stores have it now, according to Google, including those of Whole Foods Market, McDonald's and Walgreen. Google also has partnerships with 25 retailers, like Macy's and Jamba Juice, to provide Wallet users with coupons and rewards.