Will Your Next Mobile Phone Have Google Wallet?
Google is indeed retaining its supreme reign when it comes to reinventing ways people pay for services and goods. Google Wallet is the proof for this. Google Wallet allows consumers to use virtual credit card information that is stored on a smartphone to pay for services and products. This works by tapping a smartphone against special readers such as PayPass and MasterCard sellers usually installed in their point-of-sale terminals. Here is a list of the benefits of having Google Wallet on your smartphone.
It is better than the plastic credit card. Google Wallet requires a personal identification number (PIN) and automatically locks if it is entered wrong on the fifth time. Meanwhile, if you lose a credit card, the thief can still use it to buy things.- Special offers can be redeemed in an instant. Participating stores use Google Wallet to provide special deals via Google Offers. The app will not charge any transaction fees but it will earn money via advertisements.
- Spending can be tracked with ease. The service keeps record of all your expenses and you can check this from the app any time you want.
- The prepaid card can be used to prevent credit card interest and to control spending. Google Wallet allows you to limit your expenses.
- You do not need to buy a new smartphone. Many models are already equipped with NFC technology but if your phone does not have it yet, you can retrofit it to have contactless payment technology.
Google Wallet also has its fair share of disadvantages. Since it is in the early stages of release, only Citibank MasterCard and Google Prepaid Card are available as the virtual credit cards. If your phlebotomist training store is a partner of the app, you still need to upgrade your point-of-sale at a cost. Subway, Walgreens, Toys R Us and Macy’s are some of the stores that have already supported the app. To add to that, Google Wallet app is only available on Sprint Nexus S 4G.
The search engine giant’s new app does a lot of things and it’s changing the way people buy and sell items in several place already. Google is planning to expand the places where Google Wallet can be used in the near future. Who would have thought that the idea of using the phone to make purchases and make payments would materialize in this time? On top of that, a paperless transaction is a big help to the environment as well, and so Google Wallet is a very promising application. Who knows the next set of smartphones slated to be introduced in the coming year might likely have Google Wallet.