Google may not have been able to get their NFC based Google Wallet off the ground due to carrier restrictions and plenty of other obstacles, but that hasn’t stopped them. Instead of keeping Google Wallet as solely an on device application Google has branched it out and they are now offering Google Wallet cards, a physical card you can hold in your hands and use like a credit card. The idea was talked about earlier in the year, and canned shortly before Google’s developer conference, Google I/O. Details around the whole project were rather scarce, and with little information or talk about it many thought that Google had scrapped it all together.
Last week a new company named Coin had brought to light their new product that aimed to simplify life, and condense all your credit cards down into just one card. Whether related to this announcement or just coincidental timing Google has announced that they will have their own similar product. The Google Wallet card varies from other products in a few ways but will still be something that many will want to check out.
Unlike the competitors Google is not charging for the card, instead you just need to sign up that you wish to receive one, and then activate it upon receipt much like any other credit card out there. There is no credit check for this it will just pull from the information that is existing in your Google Wallet account. Google has described the card as “a physical prepaid debit card that allows you to access your Wallet Balance in the real world, at ATMs, banks, and wherever MasterCard® Debit is accepted.”
From the way this sounds is that you will not be able to select on the go which card you want to withdraw the funds from and you will need to have money in the account in order to use it which would be rather inconvenient. If you are looking for a pre-paid card type solution for your children, or something of that nature this may work out for you, but if you are hoping to condense the wallet a little bit you may have to continue looking elsewhere.
The Google Wallet card is only available by invitation to those who have completed the verification process in Google Wallet, and it does have a lead time of 10 – 12 days once you sign up. For more information be sure to check out the source link below, and let us know if you will be ordering one of these for yourself.
