Google Wallet headed to Glass, enables sending money via voice command

By Mike Flacy May 6, 2014

Detailed recently by Techcrunch, the Google Glass software development team is planning on releasing an update for the hardware that will allow users to send payments using Google Wallet. According to the report, Google Glass users will use their voice to ask Glass to send money to friends within the Google Wallet application. It’s likely that there are multiple confirmation screens to avoid accidentally sending money to friends. For instance, the Glass user may have to speak the monetary figure that needs to be sent as well as a voice confirmation to approve the total amount.

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At the moment, the new Google Wallet feature is being tested within the company only. Google employees that are also Glass owners can download the software update and issue payments immediately. According to the terms of Google Wallet, Google takes a 2.9 percent cut of the transaction if a credit or debit card is used to fund the money transfer. That figure is reduced to 30 cents if the transaction is less than $10.

Similar to PayPal, it’s free to send money using Google Wallet if the transaction is funded by existing Wallet funds or linked to a personal bank account. Payments are limited to $10,000 per transaction and $50,000 over a period of five days.

Hypothetically, Google Wallet could be used as a payment solution for businesses that want to attract more Google Glass users. Assuming a restaurant accepted Google Wallet payments, a Glass user would simply bring up the application and send over the payment at the end of a meal. It would also be useful when splitting the bill at a restaurant.

During May 2013, Google added similar Google Wallet functionality to Gmail. Adding an icon to the bottom of the email creation window, Google Wallet users can send money to other Google Wallet users with a few clicks of the mouse.

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