Google Wallet’s not just for credit cards; here’s what it might hold in the future

Your wallet holds a lot more than just the “fun” plastic that lets you buy stuff. It also holds IDs, public transportation passes, concert tickets — and Google Wallet may soon hold all the same things.

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In a Q&A session on YouTube last night, Wallet product lead Robin Dua told viewers that payments are the the most obvious first step for Wallet, and Google hopes to bring a wide range of identification, travel, event, and other credentials into users’ virtual, cloud-based pockets.

Dua specifically said:

“We want to create a wallet that actually allows you to leave your leather wallet at home. We’ve started with payment cards, loyalty cars, and gift cards, and we’re focused on getting other kinds of credentials into the wallet. … Transit is a really important use case. People ride transit systems multiple times a day, and there’s a great opportunity here to simplify the payment experience. … One of the types of things we’re trying to do is make it easy for airlines, transit providers, and other types of issuers of credentials to make it super simple for them to get their credentials stored in the wallet.”

Dua said Google also wants to create user-to-user payments and transactions in Wallet and is trying to make Wallet more accessible to small- and medium-size businesses for coupons and loyalty offers, as well. The Googler also said the company is expanding the carriers it works with on Wallet.

If you’d like to watch the full, 40-minute sesh, here ya go:

Top image courtesy of PTStock, Shutterstock

hat tip: Mobileburn