Google is not kidding around about aggressively pursuing its Google Wallet mobile payment system as evidenced by the empire’s recent acquisition of Punchd, a smartphone-based loyalty card business, for an amount believed to be more than $10 million.
The rumor mill is churning out that Google will use Punchd’s service as part of its mobile payment system. This move marks Google’s 14th acquisition for the year.
According to Google, Google Wallet will be an Android app that makes your phone your wallet by storing virtual versions of your existing credit cards on the device. By simply tapping a phone, users can pay for items through advances of near field communication (NFC). The goal is for Google Wallet to eventually hold many if not all of the cards you keep in your wallet and, moving forward, the app will even synch your loyalty cards, gift cards, receipts, boarding passes, tickets, and keys to the app.
So why acquire Punchd when it appears that Google Wallet will already be able to do so much?
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