Google Wallet could release September 19 according to leak

Google Wallet release date: 19 September?
Google Wallet - heading to Nexus S first

Google Wallet may have been announced back in May but we have yet to see the service come into effect.

This could be about to change, however, with a leaked memo (posted by TechCrunch) suggesting that it will launch this week at the NFC World Congress.

Google Wallet is a tie-up with MasterCard that allows users to top up their handsets with pre-pay (PayPass) credits and then pay for goods with a swipe of their phone.

Annoyingly, like a lot of Google's services, it is thought that Google Wallet will be US only when it launches and it is an app that will only be available to those who have a Google Nexus S that's running Android 2.3.4.

NFC, easy as 123?

The NFC World Congress takes place 19 September and is a summit where 2,500 NFC luminaries are getting together to talk near field communication.

One of the keynote speakers is John Lambert from MasterCard Europe and there are also speakers from Visa, Samsung and Orange at the event.

Given that Google is close to launching its latest handset, Google Prime, it makes sense that Google wants its Wallet service out in the wild.

It will be interesting to see, though, how long it keeps the app within its own smartphone family. Eric Schmidt did mention back in May that Google was hoping to port the technology over to other manufacturers, even ones that don't use Android.

As TechCrunch has photographic proof of this leak, we are pegging it as Very Likely.

very likely

Via TechCrunch

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.