Google will be officially announcing its mobile payment platform later today, in a press conference in New York. Expected to be called Google Wallet, a name seen in a leaked internal memo, which also let on that the service will be launched sometime in the American summer on the Sprint network, across five cities in the U.S.
The Google Wallet system is expected to allow Sprint Android phones to communicate with special retail point of sale devices using NFC, or near-field communications wireless technology. This “contactless” payment is meant to work over distances of up to 4-inches.
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Understandably, only select retailers have signed for the launch of the mobile wallet system, and the full list of those will be revealed later today. Earlier reports also revealed that Google had been working with MasterCard and Citigroup, to allow their customers to use their debit and credit cards to power their mobile wallet contactless payments. Check back after the conference, for more details…