Earlier few months, Google unveiled future innovative way of payment technology – Google Wallet. Today, Google released its first version of the Android app with Sprint Nexus S 4G phones through an over the air update.
Google Wallet is an app that lets you pay for things using your phone, either by tying your credit card or gift or pre-paid cards. It works using an near field communication (NFC) embedded chip and there is no swiping required.
According to Techcrunch, Google Wallet will not work everywhere your credit card will. It won’t work everywhere there’s an NFC-friendly card reader, either. Wallet requires an NFC reader based on a new-ish specification, and only a select bunch of retailers have gotten around to updating. The post also had some great review and walkthrough in real life.
This app is now available to Samsung Nexus S owners on Sprint, through PayPass sensors at Radio Shack, Foot Locker, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Sunoco, CVS/pharmacy, etc. retailers.
As a thanks to early adopters, Google is adding a $10 free bonus to the Google Prepaid card if you set it up in Google Wallet before the end of the year.
Here are couple of videos showing Google Wallet in action –
Meanwhile, Apple is expected to unveil an iPhone with an embedded NFC chip along with iPhone 5. Its interesting to see what the competition is up to.
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