Google's mobile-payments plan (week in review)

Google wants to turn your smartphone into a mobile wallet.

After months of rumors, Google introduced Google Wallet and Google Offers, services that will combine coupons and discounts and payments at the time people buy things through their phone. The company says it plans to bring all parts of the retail experience together to make "tomorrow's best shopping experience."

Coupons for items you buy regularly will pop up on your phone, or an item that the store you're shopping at is out of will pop up on the phone and let you buy that item online. When you go to a store's cashier, you can wave your phone over a terminal, which will charge your card.

Google Wallet uses NFC, or near-field communication, technology. NFC is a chip technology that, when placed in two different devices, lets small amounts of data be sent over very short distances between them. This can include data such as credit card information, train ticket info, and a coupon bar code.
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