Users of phones without NFC technology will now be able to use the app to complete purchases.
Google Wallet has announced that it will be letting users without near field communication (NFC) technology-enabled phones to use QR code scans to make payments instead.
This will make it much easier for users without NFC to be able to make mobile payments.
By using a QR code, users will be able to simply scan the barcode a merchant displays. All that is needed is their smartphone camera (and the Google Wallet app). Once the scan is complete, the payment is automatically processed.
Google announced this new capability on its official blog, paying specific attention to the Google for Brazil conference currently taking place in that country. Broadening mobile payments in Brazil was underscored as one of the efforts currently underway.
This means that Brazilians who want to use Google Wallet will be the first in the world who will be able to use the quick response barcodes to make their payments. The barcodes are now well recognized worldwide and require very little of a smartphone to make them work effectively. Essentially, all a smartphone needs is a camera, and it can scan barcodes that work with their digital wallet app.
The QR code mobile payment option is seeing its first launch in Brazil for several reasons.
Among the top reasons – aside from its sizeable population – that Brazil is getting this option first is that a considerable portion of the country’s smartphones are not NFC enabled. Without that technology, the contactless payment option for the mobile wallet doesn’t work. This means that most people in the country haven’t been able to use the digital wallet because their phones simply aren’t compatible.
With the barcodes, Google Wallet becomes more accessible, and the country will have the ability to use a digital payment method with reliable security and convenience to pay for products and services.
Google Wallet should be launching its new QR code option for making mobile payments in Brazil within the next few months. It will be available to all users in the country who have Android devices with a working camera.
