Google is piloting a Hands Free mobile payment service, no need to take phone out

Google is testing a new payment service totally separate from Android Pay. It will allow customers who have their hands full (one of the few examples given is if you are shopping with small children) or customers who are just lazy, to pay in-store without taking out the phone and with minimal interaction.

Here’s how it works: your phone must have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled before using Hands Free and most of us already have those two things enabled. Bluetooth Low Energy in conjunction with location services provided by Wi-Fi prepares phones for payments by communicating with beacons installed at the registers.

The customer will simply tell the cashier that he or she is “paying with Google”, then the cashier verifies the image and initials with the customer and confirms the payment. A notification is then sent directly to your device, confirming the payment you just made.

The problem with these kinds of payment methods is they require even more hardware in order to accept these Hands Free payments and this is not idea in a world where NFC terminals payments are still limited as to where they can be used.

This pilot is currently only available in the South Bay Area of California for select locations of two merchants: McDonald's and Papa John's.

Still, it’s nice to see Google coming up with these new pilot programs, even though, Google has ventured its nose into places it shouldn’t have and ended up shutting down these unused services. But kudos to Google for actually taking the risks.

Source | Via