Leaked screenshots show Google Wallet is getting a physical Google Wallet Card

Leaked screenshots of an update to Google's Wallet App that hasn't been pushed yet shows evidence that a physical Google Wallet Card will be made available for instances where you can't make purchases with your NFC-enabled Android phone.

Digital wallet services are flooding the market, despite the many barriers between them and consumers pockets. Apparently, Google is trying to alleviate some of this existing friction with a tangible solution. Android Police received an anonymous tip and series of screenshots showing off a Google Wallet app promoting a physical Google Wallet card. According to the screenshots, the Google Wallet Card will be a physical credit card used in lieu of the multiple credit cards you have in your physical wallet.

The screenshots might have been taken by someone who had early access to an updated Google Wallet app, and it shows off a leaked informational page explaining the advantages of a Google Wallet Card. The cards are likely intended for brick-and-mortar shops that haven’t adopted NFC reading terminals or even iPad-based solutions. 

The card is supposed to bridge the gap between the new and old payment systems we’re stuck in. On one hand it’s a credit card like any other, but it digitally stores all of your existing cards so you can leave the multiple pieces of plastic at home. Users will defer to the Google Wallet app to indicate which credit card stored on the physical Google Wallet Card they want to swipe.

There are a few advantages to this system. For instance, if you lose your wallet, you’re not forced to cancel all your cards. In fact, “you only need to cancel your Google Wallet Card (not every card in your wallet).” You’ll also probably be able to request a new Google Card with the press of a button in the Google Wallet app. Some bonus security measures appear to include 24/7 fraud monitoring, and the ability to remotely disable your card at any time.

The second part of the leak introduces withdrawing money or sending money to a “Wallet Balance,” which seems to be a debt-like account where you can store, send, or spend money. It may suggest being able to soon use the Google Wallet Card as a debit card itself, independent of the stored credit cards. Finally, the screen shot shows evidence of the ability to add a transit card, like a New York City Metro Card for instance.

Of course until Google gets back to us we’re merely speculating, but the screenshots are incredibly telling: Google is aggressively entering this market and competing with the likes of Square and even more so Apple Passbook.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/a-physical-google-wallet-coming-soon/

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Google Wallet now offering mobile web payments

Evolution of mobile payments continues

The evolution of Google Wallet continued Thursday as Google announced plans to change the way consumers purchase goods through the mobile web.

Instead of being required to fill out lengthy order forms on a smartphone or tablet screen, Google Wallet users can now press one button to have all the busy work taken care of by the service.

Consumers with a Google Wallet account can also use the new "Buy with Google Wallet" button for one-touch ordering.

Currently, Google's research showed 97 percent of customers who attempt to buy goods through a mobile website quit before the order is complete.

By simplifying the process, Google is hoping more shoppers can get the items they want with little to no hassle.

Competition heats up

Since the program is so new, very few mobile sites have adopted the "Buy with Google Wallet" button.

1-800-Flowers.com, Rockport.com and FiveGuys.com have already implemented the new Google Wallet options into each company's respective mobile sites, and Google promises more (like Finish Line and MovieTickets.com) mobile sites will soon be compatible.

This is a pretty big step for Google Wallet, as it now provides a distinct advantage competitor services Apple Passbook and Microsoft Wallet don't yet offer.

Google also has an advantage in that its service works across a variety of platforms, whereas Microsoft Wallet is limited to Windows Phone 8 and Passbook is limited to devices running iOS 6.

With more and more consumers adopting digital wallets and payment options, it will be interesting to see how the wallet wars continue to escalate over the course of the next year.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/google-wallet-now-offering-mobile-web-payments-1109399

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Passbook is the coolest iOS 6 feature you can’t use

We've have plenty of unpacking to do this week, what with the iPhone 5 and everything new in iOS 6 - including Passbook, the digital wallet with high potential but little payoff... so far.

There are a lot of great (and not-so-great) things about iOS 6, and Passbook falls somewhere in between. Apple first introduced us to its digital wallet back at WWDC, a clean, unified payment system on your iPhone that kept track of your various loyalty cards and respective balances. The image showed off accounts with Target, Fandago, Starbucks, Amtrak, United, among others. It looked simple, easy, obvious.

And it would be – or rather, will be – once brands get on board. But consider the stock image Apple keeps showing off with Passbook something of a wish list for the time being.

When iOS 6 officially dropped this week, the native Passbook app showed up on the home page, and I hope I’m not the only one to experience the disappointment of selecting the icon only to be bounced to the App Store where I was given a choice of four apps I could add to the wallet. On Wednesday, the only options were Fandango, Live Nation, Lufthansa, and MLB.com At Bat. Not exactly a stellar lineup for launch day.

But things are already getting better: Open your Passbook, hit the App Store prompt, and you’ll find a much better variety at your disposal. Now, American Airlines, Sephora, Belly Card, Target, United Airlines, American Express, and Walgreens are all now working with Passbook to bring you digital payment and account handling services – that’s a pretty impressive bump since opening day, and the list is continuing to grow. A number of other outlets have announced they’ll be hitting Passbook soon, including Starbucks (within weeks) and a variety of theme parks. A few b2b brands, like Tello, have also announced they’ll be building tools to help brands manage their Passbook integration 

You have to give Apple its due on filling out the selection as quickly as possible – however, there are some other significant kinks, and they mostly boil down to a huge lack of instruction on how this thing works. After you’re bounced to the App Store and it’s made (at best) moderately clear these are the Passbook-friendly apps, you download a few. Then you’d expect upon re-opening Passbook that they would be there, right? Wrong. Oh, so wrong. They simply are installed on your screen, like any other app, with no indication on the iPhone’s part how you get them into your new, iOS digital wallet.

In order for these apps to sit in your Passbook a la that pretty little stock image we keep seeing from Apple, it appears you have to use them first. But nowhere is this made explicitly clear in Passbook or the participating apps. There’s currently no way to be in Passbook and immediately load apps into the wallet – which seems like the most obvious way to create a seamless, easy user experience.

And then there’s this problem:

Occasionally when you hit the App Store prompt from Passbook, you’ll get the above message. When you exit out of Passbook and shut it down, however, you’ll be able to get into the App Store on it’s own. Frustrating? You bet. Macworld found a fix you can check out here, but that’s just a glitch a finished product shouldn’t have.

Reviews about how it actually works have been varied. Given the fact that compatible apps are still being introduced, the Passbook testing has been timid. For the most part, however, early users found the process complicated and buggy.  

Passbook could be great, and it’s almost certain that bug fixes are on the way. But right now, veteran mobile wallet Lemon’s quick and easy camera capture for card storage is far superior, as is PassSource, where you can log in via desktop for set up purposes. Passbook assume that we can go all-digital, all at once, but did so without partners totally in place of a unified system. Oh, and also, we still have physical wallets full of cards that we need to do something about. It’s messy, it’s buggy, it’s broken – in short, Passbook has big dreams and decent potential, but right now it’s simply an unfinished product on Apple’s part, and the nicest thing anyone can say about it is that it’s a work in progress. 

[Additional reporting by Francis Bea]

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/problems-with-passbook/

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UK mobile wallet payment scheme gets go ahead

Mobile phone: 1, wallet: 0

Three of the biggest telcos in the UK have won in their bid to offer a mobile wallet partnership to consumers.

The European Commission had been mulling over a bid by Vodafone, Everything Everywhere and O2 to offer a unified way to pay for goods with a mobile phone.

Dubbed Project Oscar, the mobile wallet initiative is set to go up against the likes of Google Wallet using NFC technology and it is hoped that the scheme will be seen as a safe alternative to using cash cards for transactions.

Although the EC has given this proposal the greenlight, Google and Three were two big names that were opposed to the payment scheme. Three because it thought Project Oscar was monopolistic and Google looked to be protecting its own mobile payment service.

Effective solution

Everything Everywhere, one of the partners, however is pleased with the result, saying in a statement: "At the heart of the JV (joint venture) is a desire to bring to the UK an easy and effective solution for businesses to create and for consumers to enjoy mobile marketing and wallet services.

"With EC clearance received, the job of getting the JV up and running as quickly as possible can begin, starting with the hiring of the necessary people and the creation of the new company."

According to Everything Everywhere, it is the discount side of the platform that consumers will see first. Essentially the scheme will mean that phone users will be offered a bevy of brand discounts and offers if they opt into the service – essentially codes to get money off in restaurants and the like.

This is only the beginning, though, eventually the deal, according to Everything Everywhere, "will give consumers a simple and secure shopping experience, allowing them to purchase goods and services using their handsets in physical locations such as shops, using contactless technology, as well as online."

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/uk-mobile-wallet-payment-scheme-gets-go-ahead-1094841

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