Google wallet launches, Twitter sells political ads

Patrick Lambert · Founder at TideArt
This could, and should be the future. Will it? Probably not for a while, mostly because Visa and AMEX will launch their own competitive products. Stores will be forced to make a choice as to which system they support. Google will scream for everyone to adopt their "open" system while everyone else will complain about Google wanting to be a monopoly in this new field. The feds will intervene and we'll see years of lawsuits. And, eventually, we'll end up with the ideal system, where everyone will support a standard-based open wallet system and every store will have something that supports that.. in 10-20 years.
Reply · 2 · · September 19 at 1:54pm

Hari Prasanth · Top Commenter · SSR2 at Unisys
As a matter of fact Patrick Lambert .. There is no NFC reader that ONLY works with Google's Wallet. Any NFC reader can read (provided they are compatible) from any Mobile with NFC enabled. Even if Apple launches it's own wallet system and has NFC in iPhone 5 then the same NFC reader that supports Google's Wallet will support that as well(provided the reader is compatible). So better and SAFER the service the more the people who will adapt NFC.
Reply · 2 · · September 19 at 3:00pm

John Fernandez
this is not the future. the future is not some proprietary crap that is exclusive to android, and involves giving your credit card info to google. what value does google add to this wireless exchange, other than collecting your cc info? none at all. how much value does google add to this nfc system? none. Most people do not own an android device, therefore their future does not involve google wallet nor will it ever involve this closed, proprietary method from an advertising company
Reply · · September 19 at 4:12pm

Alvaro Osvaldo López-García · Top Commenter · Benemèrita Universidad Autònoma de Puebla
John Fernandez but the future is a closed, proprietary method from Apple or MS right?
Reply · · September 19 at 6:44pm
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Nick Reuter · Senior Infrastructure Project Manager at Capgemini
I think Google Wallet is a pretty awesome step forward. That said, I don't consider it to be revolutionary, more evolutionary. Why? Because it doesn't address the biggest annoyance in retail / brick and mortar: the line.

That said, Google Wallet does do a lot of things. It saves seconds on each transaction so that can aggregate to slightly quicker queue times. It accumulates information in a central place so you don't need to dig for a specific payment card / specific rewards card. So all that is great! I just think it needs to go even further.

I'm working on a mobile payment solution for restaurants that allows patrons to open, view and pay their tabs from their mobile phones - (TotalTab, http://www.totaltab.com). I think the self-checkout option is where the future really is. Being able to do what you want and move on when...See More
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 12:32pm

Ben Wakeham · Head of Branding at StudentMoneySaver.com
I can't believe there are doubters out there. This is 100% the future, and it's not because it will decrease que's in shops by shaving 2 seconds off your wait time. It's because of loyalty cards and offers. Businesses want you to have a loyalty card so they can track what you are buying and therefore have more information about their customers, and consumers want loyalty cards so they can build up their points to access discounts and offers. Both will gain, as businesses will be able to tailor offers to individuals as you can keep infinite loyalty cards and digital coupons in your google wallet. The only hold up would be the security (which is supposedly better than existing cards) and Mastercard and Visa (who have a monopoly in the debit and credit card market), however with Google being an open source company, and Visa and Mastercard already getting on board there is now no stopping it.

At the end of the day it's a no brainer. I can't wait to see what apple come up with though, however I don't think its their vision or business model to get involved with the actual use of e-wallets.
Reply · · September 29 at 4:37am

Justin Waldron · Co-Founder at Zynga
"NFC is still a relatively new technology".

NFC is not new technology. People in Japan have been paying with their phones since 2004. America has poor outdated infrastructure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaifu-Keitai
Reply · · September 19 at 9:49pm

Michael Ladd · Owner at P.I.C. Supplies
"NFC is still a relatively new technology".
Umm, no it's not. It's been in use for over 15 years in Japan and other countries. Even Mobile used a similar idea, RFID, for years (since 1997) as Speed Pass to charge gas to you credit card via a small dongle. How is this new or complicated?
Reply · · September 20 at 5:52am

Hcltouch Care
This is really amazing...the way technology is evolving in mobile industry it seems soon mobile will be the only thing we need in future...
Reply · · September 20 at 3:49am

Miad Hoque · Top Commenter · Stuyvesant High School
What happened to those NFC Stickers they were talking about?
Reply · · September 20 at 3:42am

Hari Prasanth · Top Commenter · SSR2 at Unisys
Miad Hoque they will be rolled out once they include support for other card vendors as well I believe.
Reply · · September 20 at 11:11am

Miad Hoque · Top Commenter · Stuyvesant High School
Hari Prasanth Sweet! Thanks for the info Hari.
Reply · · September 20 at 1:40pm