Point of sale transactions changed forever when the first pay by phone retail terminals appeared.
With much excitement, critics and consumers alike began cheering for the end of "swipe" payments as the country starts using smartphones to pay for purchases in traditional retail stores.
Internet pioneer Google, e-banking giant Citigroup, credit card pioneer MasterCard and payment processing powerhouse First Data formed a coalition to launch phone-based payments on the Sprint wireless network that allows customers to pay faster and easier.
The phone payment technology also opens the door to new marketing opportunities for stores who accept this form of payment.
How It Works Google's new phone payment platform leverages the same PayPass technology offered by Citigroup in many of its credit cards.
Rather than swiping a card, shoppers can now wave their phone near a Google Wallet terminal to pay for their order.
For these payments to work, a user must have the Google Wallet app installed on their Android-powered smartphone.
Once installed, users enter their credit card information and save it into the app.
When they buy something, they place their phone near the merchant's POS terminal, transferring the payment through a special chip inside the smartphone.
Right now, users must have a smartphone that runs on the Sprint network and have a PayPass credit card or prepaid debit card from Citigroup to pay with Google Wallet.
Google Offers The benefits of the Google Wallet do not stop with the ability to make swipe-less transactions.
Google plans to allow merchants to use Google Offers to send users coupons and special deals as they traverse their store.
This gives Google a way to boost to its revenue while allowing retailers to capitalize on their in-store customers.
Google gets to collect data from every sale, allowing it to know the shopping behavior of every user.
This information will allow Google to sell highly targeted ads to stores and brands at premium prices.
Competing Ideas The Google-led Wallet project will not have the last word about pay by phone strategies.
A competing group headed by Visa has joined with AT&T and Verizon Wireless to launch its own payment phone wallet called ISIS.
E-banking giant Bank of America and Wells Fargo have joined this group which will offer its own pay by phone service.
Although Google reportedly has plans to allow its Wallet application to work with ISIS, whether Sprint users will ever have access to ISIS merchants remains unclear.
With much excitement, critics and consumers alike began cheering for the end of "swipe" payments as the country starts using smartphones to pay for purchases in traditional retail stores.
Internet pioneer Google, e-banking giant Citigroup, credit card pioneer MasterCard and payment processing powerhouse First Data formed a coalition to launch phone-based payments on the Sprint wireless network that allows customers to pay faster and easier.
The phone payment technology also opens the door to new marketing opportunities for stores who accept this form of payment.
How It Works Google's new phone payment platform leverages the same PayPass technology offered by Citigroup in many of its credit cards.
Rather than swiping a card, shoppers can now wave their phone near a Google Wallet terminal to pay for their order.
For these payments to work, a user must have the Google Wallet app installed on their Android-powered smartphone.
Once installed, users enter their credit card information and save it into the app.
When they buy something, they place their phone near the merchant's POS terminal, transferring the payment through a special chip inside the smartphone.
Right now, users must have a smartphone that runs on the Sprint network and have a PayPass credit card or prepaid debit card from Citigroup to pay with Google Wallet.
Google Offers The benefits of the Google Wallet do not stop with the ability to make swipe-less transactions.
Google plans to allow merchants to use Google Offers to send users coupons and special deals as they traverse their store.
This gives Google a way to boost to its revenue while allowing retailers to capitalize on their in-store customers.
Google gets to collect data from every sale, allowing it to know the shopping behavior of every user.
This information will allow Google to sell highly targeted ads to stores and brands at premium prices.
Competing Ideas The Google-led Wallet project will not have the last word about pay by phone strategies.
A competing group headed by Visa has joined with AT&T and Verizon Wireless to launch its own payment phone wallet called ISIS.
E-banking giant Bank of America and Wells Fargo have joined this group which will offer its own pay by phone service.
Although Google reportedly has plans to allow its Wallet application to work with ISIS, whether Sprint users will ever have access to ISIS merchants remains unclear.
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