Can this help eliminate long lines? Now you can purchase items online and on the go with Google Wallet. Check out the new enhancements from Google Wallet after the jump.
Google Wallet New Enhancements
Google on Wednesday released a cloud-based version of its Google Wallet app that now supports credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.
The latest app allows users to shop both in stores and online, so a phone could be tapped to pay for a double shot macchiato at a cafe, a taxi ride or even make a purchase on the web.
Google Wallet was launched in 2011, replacing Google Checkout. It’s an app that uses a short-range wireless technology called near-field communication (NFC) to let users pay for things by simply waving their phones in front of NFC-compatible terminals at merchants.
Google Wallet is now available on six phones on Sprint and Virgin Mobile, as well as the new Nexus 7 tablet. With the help of MasterCard PayPass, Google has worked with more than 25 merchants across 200,000 U.S. retail locations to get the concept off the ground.
“What if your wallet was engineered rather than sewn?†Google said in a video promoting the upgraded app. “It would start with your [credit] cards — Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover — all stored securely in the cloud together in a virtual wallet that goes anywhere.â€
Here’s how it works: After downloading the free Google Wallet app to your Android phone, you can save a card to the platform by entering in the number. This can also be done online or through Google Play. After making a payment in a store, a receipt will pop up on your phone with the merchant name and total charge.
“To support all credit and debit cards, we changed our technical approach to storing payment cards,†Google noted in a blog post on the company’s site. “The Google Wallet app now stores your payment cards on highly secure Google servers, instead of in the secure storage area on your phone. A wallet ID (virtual card number) is stored in the secure storage area of the phone, and this is used to facilitate transactions at the point of sale.â€
Users can also remotely disable the mobile wallet on a lost phone by visiting the “devices†section online. This will prevent anyone with access to the phone the ability to make purchases.
