Google Wallet Moves to Cloud, Focuses on Security

The new version of Google Wallet, based on the cloud, is updated to assure its customers get greater security in their transactions and purchases and provide compatibility with all credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.

Security has been the key to this new version of NFC-enabled mobile payment platform, as it has focused on providing as much information to the user to feel that their money is insured by the app in question.

“To support all credit and debit cards, we changed our technical approach to storing payment cards. The Google Wallet app now stores your payment cards on highly secure Google servers, instead of in the secure storage area on your phone,” Robin Dua, head of product management for the Google Wallet team explained in a post on the Google Commerce Blog. “A wallet ID (virtual card number) is stored in the secure storage area of the phone, and this is used to facilitate transactions at the point of sale. Google instantly charges your selected credit or debit card. This new approach speeds up the integration process for banks so they can add their cards to the Wallet app in just a few weeks.”

After payment, the user can view the transaction in record time from terminal with the name of the store where they purchased and the price of purchased products. Additionally, the application offers the possibility to view the history of all the purchases online from Google Wallet interface.

To use the new version of Wallet, available now on Google Play, user will have to enter the card number in the mobile app, online wallet, or Google Play when making purchases.

The process for storing cards in the system of Google Wallet is to store an ID-card number on the phone virtual storage area security in order to facilitate transactions at the point of sale. Google then charged instantly the selected credit or debit card.

In the event the user lost the mobile device, Google has provided options to disable the app remotely. The process starts by visiting the devices section in the online wallet and selecting the phone with the mobile wallet you wish to disable. From that moment, Google Wallet will not authorize any transaction that is attempted from that device.

“When you successfully disable your wallet on a device, Google Wallet will not authorize any transactions attempted with that device. If the Google Wallet online service can establish a connection to your device, it will remotely reset your mobile wallet, clearing it of card and transaction data. There is no way you can do that with your leather wallet,” the company said in the blog.

Currently, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Evo 4G, Samsung Galaxy SIII, LG Optimus as well as for the Nexus 7 tablet and smartphones and tablets with NFC chips support Google Wallet. The search engine giant will add ten more smartphones including devices from Sprint by the end of 2012. In addition, Google has partnered with more than 25 national retailers in more than 200,000 retail locations to support to support its virtual wallet program through MasterCard’s PayPass program.

NFC-based payments are expected to reach $180 billion by 2017 as per a report from Juniper Research. Google’s addition of more payment options is a step in right direction for the company to be market leader in contactless payments.