Today, Google has released a new version of Google Wallet, the payment application that turns mobile phones and tablets into wallets. Included in the update is added support for all major credit card types, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. Changes also include moving credit and debit card information into the cloud and the ability to remotely disable the Google Wallet app though Google's website.
Google Wallet growth will no longer be hampered by a lack of universal credit card support, which previously limited user's payment options when they used Google Wallet. Unfortunately, device support is still limited: there are currently six phones, from carriers Sprint and Virgin Mobile, as well as the new Nexus 7 tablet that currently support Google Wallet.
In previous versions of Google Wallet, credit card information was securely stored on each individual user's device, but today's changes move this information to Google's secure servers. This will allow users to enter their credit cards once and sync their payment information to each of their devices. Since payment information is no longer stored on each physical device, users can log on to the official Google Wallet and disable any lost or stolen device.
The new version of Google Wallet is available now on Google Play. Google Wallet requires a supported NFC device, Such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 or the Nexus 7, and is currently only available in the United States.
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