Google Wallet takes over for Google Checkout

Google has decided that it wants a single payment platform for both merchants and consumers.

Consumers checking out from a mobile commerce website are now provided with the opportunity to use the new payment method.

The Google Checkout service is now having its name changed to Google Wallet, so that there is only a single brand being used for customers who are shopping with merchants who accept online payments. Google Wallet is the new service provided by the company that is designed to allow mobile payment transactions to be completed with smartphones.

A spokesperson at Google said that “This is an important first step in creating a single wallet so consumers can have a simple and consistent way to pay whether they’re shopping in-store or online.”

Google Wallet was first launched earlier in 2011 to provide consumers with a place in which to store their payment information so that they can use their smartphones for making transactions in store at a point of sale. Registered shoppers need only tap or wave their phones over the reader at a checkout counter and the transaction can be processed.

Consumers that log into their previous Google Checkout accounts will now be redirected to a new Google Wallet notification screen that advises them of the change in the name of the service. Any information that they’d kept within their Checkout account – such as billing addresses and card numbers – will still be maintained in their updated Wallet account. Therefore, they will be able to maintain the same service, simply under a new name.