This is Steven. {“Its Steve!”} Sorry… ”Steve” Steve’s phone is a Nexus S 4G on Sprint… …which, for Steve, means: the only wallet he now carries, lives inside his phone. When he turns on his screen, a special Near Field antenna also powers up. It can only transmit and receive within a very short range – an inch or two. But no information is transferred until Steve enters his PIN. When the phone comes close enough to the PayPass sensor the Near Field loop is established. Deep inside the phone, a unique chip – Google calls it the Secure Element – holds data about Steve’s identity, his available balance and his rights to make wireless payments. The Secure Element isn’t part of the phone’s operating system – in fact it’s a separate piece of hardware entirely. The Wallet is simply told that Steve owns credentials to make the purchase. Steve is using his Citibank MasterCard account. In time, Google intends to support every major credit card. He can also drive his Wallet with Google Prepaid Cards funded by any credit account he has. Many stores report that contactless payments are faster than credit card swipes and more than twice as fast as cash transactions. That’s better for the merchant and faster for Steve. It can save him money in lots of places. And he can earn loyalty points at his favorites. Steve may also get offers of special deals right there in the store. Or he may have checked into Google Offers before going shopping. As more stores adopt the program, Steve could inhabit a world of customized shopping where he’s made to feel special and deeply “connected.” Google says they don’t keep track of what Steve buys and where … at least for now. Sure, at any point Google could start profiling Steve’s buying patterns. But Steve doesn’t mind. He’s decided that painless payment, convenient nearby offers – and one less bulky wallet full of easy to steal plastic – are worth sacrificing a little anonymity. Steve’s already made that same kind of emotional decision about Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter… In the future, we’re all famous … for 15 milliseconds at a time. So that’s how Google Wallet works with Citibank MasterCard …. {“And that, was Steve.”}