Internet giant begins field trials of NFC-based mobile payment service in New York, San Francisco; also unveils Google Offers.
Google on Thursday revealed that it is conducting field trials of its Google Wallet mobile payment system and will launch commercially in selected U.S. markets this summer.
Trials will take place in New York and San Francisco, "and we will expand nationwide in coming months," Stephanie Tilenius, vice president of commerce and payments at Google announced at a New York press conference.
"2011 and beyond will be the age of 'molo' - mobile local commerce," she said, describing the unveiling of Wallet as merely "the first steps".
"This vision will take a while to come to fruition," Tilenius said.
The company is partnering with U.S. mobile operator Sprint, bank Citi, credit card company Mastercard and payment processing firm First Data, but emphasised that it is building an open platform and is keen to welcome other players in future. "It's important that this happens in an ecosystem way," said Osama Bedier, VP platform, mobile and new ventures at Google, who demonstrated Google Wallet and highlighted its security features.
"[We will] continue to partner and add cards to the wallet," Bedier said.
Initially the service will be available to users of the Nexus S handset on Sprint's network. Payments can be made via Citi Mastercard credit cards or a Google prepaid card that can be topped up from any other credit card.
Fared Adib, VP of product development at Sprint, said that his company's role was to provide a "bridge" to OEMs to expand the service onto other handsets, naming Samsung, HTC and Motorola in particular.
"It will take some time to proliferate through our whole portfolio," he admitted.
Initial retail partners include American Eagle, Macy's, Walgreens, Toys R Us and Subway. The merchant partners will be able to send offers to users of the services, including location-based offers where the customer has given permission.
In conjunction with Wallet, Google also presented Google Offers on Thursday, a digital coupon service that will go live in Portland, New York and San Francisco this summer.
"Our object is to bring the pieces together as a single tap experience," said Tilenius.
The Google executives also made it clear that the system will one day be about more than just m-commerce, suggesting that in future the Wallet will be able to carry the user's driving licence, health card information, hotel keycards, boarding pass and more than just m-commerce, suggesting that in future the Wallet will be able to carry the user's driving licence, health card information, hotel keycards, boarding pass and more.
