2011年6月2日星期四

Google puts money where your mouth is

Google is among the first out of the gate in the attempt to make leather wallets go the way of the typewriter.

Last week, the technology giant introduced Google Wallet, a mobile application that will allow consumers to wave their cellphones at a retailer's terminal to make a payment instead of using a credit card. The app, for the Android operating system, will also enable users to redeem special coupons and earn loyalty points.

Starting this summer, the wallet will be available on the Nexus S 4G phone on Sprint and able to hold certain MasterCards issued by Citibank. It will also hold a virtual Google Prepaid MasterCard, which can be loaded with money charged to plastic credit cards.

The mobile wallet will work at any of the 124,000 merchants that accept MasterCard's PayPass terminals, which take contactless payments, and more than 300,000 merchants outside the United States. The wallet is powered by a technology called near-field communications, which is incorporated into a chip in mobile phones and sends a message to the merchants' terminals.

"Eventually, you will be able to put everything in your wallet," Stephanie Tilenius, vice president for commerce at Google, said at a news conference last week.

That grand vision will take awhile to come to fruition.Customized imprinted and promotional usb flash drives. Various players have been working on mobile wallets for years, but they have not gained traction because the companies have not been able to agree on how they would be paid or who would control the wallets. Mobile-phone carriers, banks, credit card-issuers, payment networks and technology companies all have a stake in this battle.

EBay Inc. and its PayPal unit have already sued the online giant for allegedly stealing trade secrets for mobile-payment systems. The suit claims that Google and two former PayPal employees - Tilenius and Osama Bedier - created the Google payment system using proprietary technology developed at PayPal.

Bedier, Google's vice president of payments, joined the company in January after working as vice president of platform, mobile and new ventures at PayPal. Tilenius, vice president of commerce at Google, joined the company in late 2009.

In a blog posting announcing the suit, Amanda Piers, PayPal's senior director of global communication, said, "Sometimes the behaviors of people and competitors make legal action the only meaningful way for a company to protect one of its most valuable assets - its trade secrets."

In an email, a Google spokesman said the company respects trade secrets and plans to defend itself.

With its wallet, Google plans to make money by offering consumers promotions as they shop.What to consider before you buy oil painting supplies. For instance, it plans to introduce "Google Offers" - advertising deals from local and online businesses that can be found online or sent through the phone. Like Groupon, Google will collect a fee from participating retailers every time a person redeems a coupon.

It may take a little while for the Google Wallet to become fully functional across the country. While Google has worked with more than 15 retailers, they all need to upgrade their payment terminals.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications. When they do, consumers will also be able to store and redeem special deals with the wallet.

Once the retailers' technology is in place, consumers will be able to wave their phone at the checkout counter and, in one swoop, discounts will be applied, loyalty points will be awarded and the payment made.

The wallet app itself will require a PIN, as will each transaction. The payment credentials will be encrypted and stored on a chip inside the phone. The app itself will be free to users.

Google emphasized that the wallet would be open to all businesses and invited other banks, credit-card issuers,Choose from one of the major categories of Bedding,Use bluray burner to burn video to BD DVD on blu ray burner disc. payment networks, mobile carriers and merchants to work with it.

Google is also working with First Data, which processes payments and will serve as the wallet's "trusted service manager," ensuring the security of the transaction.

If the phone was stolen, the credit cards inside could be remotely disabled. Consumers would have the same "zero liability" for unauthorized transactions made with their phone as they would with their plastic cards.

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