I was chatting online with a blogger yesterday and we got into a lively discussion about Google’s latest baby: the Google wallet.

“Tap, pay and save with it.

In the last few thousand years, the way we pay has changed only three times: from coins, to paper money, and then to plastic cards.

We are now on the verge of the next big change.”

This is how Google’s vision goes for this mobile application.

Google Wallet is a phone app that literally turns your phone into a wallet at the point of sale.

The launch is supposed to be Google’s way of making mobile shopping a very pleasant experience for businesses, especially consumers. On the part of the consumer, payment is made even easier; And from a merchant or business point of view, promotions, discounts and offers such as gift vouchers and loyalty programs can now be easily facilitated. Credit cards can also be entered. In the future, Google envisions that airline boarding passes and tickets, identification, and even keys can be stored on it!

Google is currently still testing it in the US and is working with Citi, MasterCard, Sprint, and First Data, as well as various retailers. Expect it to officially launch in the summer.

It combines NFC or near field communication with what they call PN65, an NFC paired secure element chip. No need to swipe.

It’s supposed to work in just two very simple steps:

1. Look for the Google Wallet or MasterCard PayPass symbols at checkout.

2. And just tap your phone on the reader!

Clever! The payment has been processed and made without problems without using a credit card.

Well, you have to give it to Google to market it again as if it were something revolutionary when in reality; It’s not a totally foreign concept at all. I’d like to think that the reason Google partnered with MasterCard in this effort is that the latter has been using the tapping feature of credit cards to pay wirelessly rather than by swiping (the concept behind MasterCard PayPass). ).

And here’s a bit of trivia shared with me regarding this new mobile wallet: Google’s VP of Payments used to be PayPal.

Well, if you want to know and read more about it, you can consult the complete details on its official website.