At an event in New York today Google unveiled its new Near-Field Communication (NFC) payment service: Google Wallet. Announced alongside the search giant's Groupon competitor, Wallet will allow subscribers possessing an NFC-equipped smartphone like the Nexus S to simply swipe their phones to pay for items.
For the launch of the service, Google partnered with Mastercard and over 20,000 retail merchants including Footlocker, Bloomingdales, Macy's, Walgreens, Subway, Jamba Juice, and Duane Reade—basically any store that supports MasterCard's PayPass swipe-to-pay service. At launch, it will support Citi MasterCard and a Google prepaid card done in conjunction with MasterCard. Google says Wallet is "more secure" than conventional credit cards and aims to eventually support all credit cards.
Google Wallet will also work with an Android app that will let you create shopping lists and then match those lists with deals from retail partners, though you won't need to use the app to make purchases.
Test trials being today in New York City and San Francisco with a full launch planned sometime in the summer. If you want to be kept in the loop, sign up at the Google Wallet website.
[via This Is My Next]
