Fans of footlongs and 4G will soon be able to pay for their sandwiches using Google Wallet. The restaurant chain has announced (and we've also been tipped with an internal Subway e-mail -- there's a first) its intention to full support NFC purchases with Google Wallet at more than 7,000 restaurants by April 2012. Also in 2012, expect full support for Subway Cards.
Restaurants in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, among others, have already been receiving the NFC hardware, and the rest should get them by the end of the year.
Hit the break for the internal Subway e-mail, or find the official press release here.
SUBWAY® restaurants has partnered with Google to be one of the first merchants to accept payments through Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled mobile devices. Google Wallet is an Android appliation that stores digital versions of your payment cards, along with your coupons, loyalty cards and gift cards, on your phone. Customers can "swipe" their phones to make purchases. Google Wallet is compatible with the Nexus S 4G smartphone, available on Sprint®.Google has provided SUBWAY® restaurants in the US the ability to accept credit card payments from compatible NFC mobile devices.* Initially, Google Wallet will support MasterCard PayPass cards and the Google prepaid card.In addition to credit card payments, the second phase [of] this project (coming in 2012) will integrate full SUBWAY® Card functionaly, as well as restaurant promotions and coupons, with the Google Wallet application.Google Wallet RolloutRestaurants in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, and other locations around the country were the first to receive the NFC reader device. By the end of 2011, approximately 7,600 US restaurants will be accepting mobile payments. IPC will ship the NFC reader devices directly to participating restaurants. In addition to the readres, FAF will send each restaurant a marketing kit that includes support materials from FAF, Google and MasterCard. Do not display the marketing materials until you have received the reader. DAs in participating markets will be contacted by IPC with instructions and shipment information.* Because NFC devices do not expose transactions and are handled by Google, there will be no End-to-End Encryption updates or additional hardware needed to participate in Google Wallet.
