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Google to open Wallet app to third-party passes, loyalty cards, and IDs

Google to open Wallet app to third-party passes, loyalty cards, and IDs

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Google is planning to expand its wallet app to accept third-party passes, loyalty cards, and IDs in an effort to let users "leave their wallets at home."

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Google Wallet 1.5 Stock
Google Wallet 1.5 Stock

Google is planning to let businesses integrate their services into its Wallet mobile payments app. Speaking at a developers conference, Google Wallet development manager Robin Dua told attendees that he wants users to be able to leave their wallet at home:

"One of the types of things we're trying to do is make it easy for airlines, transit providers, and other types of issuers of credentials to make it super simple for them to get their credentials stored in the wallet...That's the goal. We want you to be able to leave your leather wallet at home and carry your phone and transact with that as your primary transaction device."

First discovered by Mobileburn, the move echoes Microsoft and Apple, which have both detailed plans to introduce a centralized payments hub with their next OS iterations. Microsoft is introducing a new Wallet Hub with Windows Phone 8, while Apple announced its Passbook app when it unveiled iOS 6. Google wants to expand its mobile payments experience even further by adding geo-targeting, which would automatically load the relevant tickets or passes when you reach a location, and also facilitating peer-to-peer payments. Of course, Dua didn't give a specific date for all the new features to roll out, but with a purported new Nexus device just around the corner, it might be sooner, rather than later.

Thanks, Woogman!