You've been redirected from MobilePaymentsToday.com to PaymentsDive.com. In March 2021, Mobile Payments Today became a part of Payments Dive. For the latest payments news, sign up for the daily newsletter.

AT&T turns on Google Wallet

Droid Life is reporting that Google just doubled the number of wireless carriers supporting Google Wallet — from one to two. According to the report, AT&T subscribers carrying a Galaxy Nexus phone can now access and install Google Wallet through the Android Marketplace.

Google Wallet launched last May and was made available only through Google partner Sprint, a fact often cited as a reason for the slow adoption of the Google Wallet. When Verizon Wireless released its version of the Galaxy Nexus, an NFC-enabled phone with an embedded secure element to store payment credentials, the expectation was that more consumers would access and use the product. But Verizon requested that Google, as the provider of the phones mobile operating system, "turn off" the Google Wallet.

Verizon said it requested that Google limit Google Wallet's access to the Galaxy Nexus' secure element because of security concerns, but Verizon, along with AT&T and T-Mobile USA, are partners in Isis, a competing mobile payment product to be launched later this year.

(For Verizon subscribers, the report has instructions on how to install the Google Wallet on their phones as well.)