Google Wallet launches in New York, San Francisco

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) today confirmed the release of its Near Field Communications-based contactless payment program, Google Wallet. In May, the company announced it would partner with Citi, MasterCard, Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) and First Data for the offering. Today, Google confirmed that it is working to incorporate the NFC specifications of Visa, Discover and American Express to work with future versions of Google Wallet.

Click here to watch Google's video on the launch of its Wallet offering.

Google Wallet is available as an over-the-air update to all Sprint Nexus S 4G phones through the Wallet app. Users who sign up for Google Wallet before the end of the year will receive a $10 free bonus to the Google Prepaid Card.

"Google Wallet enables you to pay with your Citi MasterCard credit card and the Google Prepaid Card, which can be funded with any of your existing plastic credit cards," wrote Osama Bedier, vice president of payments, on the official Google blog.

Google also announced it received a worldwide license to Visa payWave, Visa's NFC-based payment technology. The agreement sets the stage for Visa-issuing banks worldwide to enable Visa account holders to add their credit, debit and prepaid accounts to Google Wallet, the companies said.

Google first announced its m-commerce solution, including Google Offers and Google Wallet, in May and promised it would be available by the end of the summer.  As of today, Google Wallet is available in New York and San Francisco, at locations where MasterCard's PayPass system is accepted.

For more:
- see this Google blog
- see this Mobile Burn story
- see this Visa release

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