Google Wallet Card

Google Wallet users in the US can now get a physical card from Google. It's free, but you need to verify your identity, which means you'll have to provide more information to Google: the last four digits of Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) and more.

"The Google Wallet Card is a physical prepaid debit card that allows you to access your Wallet Balance in the real world, at ATMs, banks, and wherever MasterCard® Debit is accepted. If you're in the US, and you have already verified your identity, you can request a Wallet Card from the desktop site at wallet.google.com, or from the mobile app. Once you receive and activate it, you'll be able to pay with the Wallet Card at online and physical stores that accept MasterCard® Debit, and make cash withdrawals at ATMs or banks."

Android Police reports that "Google says the card should be delivered to interested parties in 10-12 days". It's US-only, there are no fees to order or activate the card and the issuer of the card is The Bancorp Bank, which provides private label banking services.

Google provides a use case for the debit card: "Your roommate finally paid you back for dinner through Google Wallet, and you want to use that money right away to pay for groceries this week. Now, you can use the new Google Wallet Card to spend the money instantly, either by purchasing in stores or by withdrawing cash at ATMs, without having to wait for money to transfer from your Google Wallet Balance to your bank account."

Other advantages: free notifications on your mobile phone and no monthly/annual fees to use the card (there are some fees, though).

An important limitation: "you cannot use the Google Wallet Card outside the US right now".

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Google Wallet App for iPhone

When Google released a new version of the Wallet app for Android, it was clear that the features that were available to every Android device in the US didn't require NFC or carriers' approval. The new features are now available for iPhone users.

"The response from users has been great, and we want iOS users to enjoy all of the benefits too. So, today we're introducing the first Google Wallet app for iPhone (iOS v6.0+), which means even more people can easily send money to friends and store all of their loyalty cards and offers in one place," informs Google.

I assume that Google will try to move beyond NFC and find other ways to make Google Wallet useful and widely available. It's not enough to have a good product if most of the people can't use it. Somewhere between security issues, NFC's adoption, carriers' competing services, Google Wallet couldn't find a way to flourish.

Another thing that suggests that Google will move beyond NFC is the Bump acquisition. "Our mission at Bump has always been to build the simplest tools for sharing the information you care about with other people and devices," informed Bump's blog. Bump lets you share photos, videos, contacts without using NFC and it works on Android and iOS. Bump uses your Internet connection to share data with the people nearby.

{ Thanks, Michael. }

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Google Wallet for Android - Widely Available, Still Limited

Google Wallet's Android app was available in the Play Store, but not many people could install it. The app was limited to Sprint and a few small US carriers, Nexus devices and a few other phones. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile blocked the app because they work on a competing payment system called Isis.

Google announced that the app is now available for any Android device in the US running Gingerbread or a more recent Android version. "The updated app helps you easily send money on the go, store all your loyalty cards, save money through offers, and view all your Google Wallet activity - all in one place."

The Google Wallet added the feature that was available in Gmail: sending money to other people in the US using their email addresses. The Gmail feature is gradually rolling out, but you can manually enable it by using the Wallet app to send money. You can also add your loyalty cards by scanning the barcode or by entering the card number.

"In addition to your loyalty cards, you can easily carry and use your offers with the Google Wallet app. No matter where you've found your offer - in the Google Maps app, Google Search, Google+ or Google Offers, they're visible and redeemable in your Wallet app at checkout. And later this week, you'll also be able to save offers on select merchant and couponing sites such as Valpak."

While you can install the app on any Android 2.3+ device in the US, you need an eligible device that supports NFC to tap and pay in of the many Wallet-enabled US stores. There are only 29 devices that support this feature and they're still limited to Sprint and small carriers like MetroPCS, US Cellular, Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile.

So not much has changed: the main functionality of the app is not available if you use 3 of the biggest US carriers, but there are some new features that don't require NFC and work on any device.

This will probably increase Google Wallet's adoption. Until now, the app has been installed less than 10 million times.

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Google Checkout Discontinued

Google likes to discontinue products without waiting until it launches some proper replacements. Lately, Google closed products that were used by millions of people. There's a race to destroy everything that was built by the old Google and build new products that are aligned with the most important features of the new Google: social and mobile.

Google Checkout is one of those old products. It was launched in 2006 as an effort to improve online shopping and to offer more value to AdWords advertisers. "One cool feature of Google Checkout is that you can buy from stores with a single Google login – no more entering the same info each time you buy, and no more having to remember different usernames and passwords for each store. To help you find places to shop, you'll see a little icon on the Google.com ads of stores offering Google Checkout," explained Google at that time. Google Checkout was free for merchants until 2008, then Google started to increase fees until it moved to PayPal's tiered pricing. Then Google Checkout became less attractive.

Back in 2011, Google launched Wallet, a new product focused on mobile payments. It started as an Android app available for Sprint Nexus S phones that used the NFC chip to make credit card payments at physical stores in the US. Since then, the app started to support a few other phones, mostly from Sprint. Google Checkout merged with Google Wallet, but it still remained a distinct product focused on online shopping and available internationally.

Now Google announces that Checkout will be discontinued. "Merchants can continue to accept payments using Google Checkout until November 20, 2013. If you don't have your own payment processing, you will need to transition to a different solution within six months. To make things easier, we've partnered with Braintree, Shopify and Freshbooks to offer you discounted migration options. If you are a U.S. merchant that does have payment processing, you can apply for Google Wallet Instant Buy, which offers a fast buying experience to Google Wallet shoppers."

Instant Buy is a simplified version of Google Checkout that has no fees because Google no longer processes payments. Instead, Google "passes a Virtual OneTime Card, a MasterCard-branded virtual prepaid debit card product that can only be used for the specific purchase for which it was issued. Using this card, merchants can process payments with their existing payment processor." Instant Buy is tied to Google Accounts and it's faster to use than the regular checkout experience, especially on mobile devices. Right now, Instant Buy is only available in the US.

Since Google Wallet is mostly a US-only service, users outside US will be limited to Google Play, other Google services and some web apps. Google has recently announced that Gmail users in the US will be able to send money using a new button from the Gmail interface. There's also Wallet for Digital Goods, an API for in-app payments limited to web apps, and it works outside US.

For now, Wallet remains a product with limited availability and many disjointed features. The virtual wallet that stores information about your credit cards, coupons, loyalty cards, gift cards, tickets and makes payments frictionless is still a work in progress. Google has a huge opportunity to create a successful product for payments: it owns Google Play, it can integrate it with Android and Chrome, not to mention Google Shopping and Google+. Google now has the most popular search engine, online video service, ad network, analytics service, webmail site, the most popular browser and the #1 mobile operating system.

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PayPal, Payment Method in Google Play?

There are multiple payment options in Google Play, from credit and debit cards to carrier billing and gift cards, but PayPal isn't one of them. Google Wallet competes with PayPal and this could be one of the reasons why you can't use PayPal in Google Play.

Despite this, some Google Wallet JavaScript files that are used in Google Play include many references to PayPal. For example, PayPal is placed next to Maestro, Automated Clearing House (ACH), proxy cards and carriers like Sprint, Softbank and Vodafone. Google's code also mentions PayPal UUIDs, which are used by the PayPal Merchant API, and there's a function named "onRedirectToPayPalPopup". There's also an error message: "PAYPAL_INSTRUMENT_ERROR" next to messages like "GIFT_CARD_ALREADY_REDEEMED" and "INVALID_CREDIT_CARD".

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