Google to Expand Wallet to Europe in 2012; Sees One Wallet Per Phone

Google plans to launch its Google Wallet in at least one major European city during the first half of 2012, said Osama Bedier, Google’s vice president of payments, who politely, if disingenuously, discounted talk of a coming wallet war in either the United States or Europe.

Bedier suggested that any given near field communications capable phone would have only one mobile wallet, and if that wallet is Google's, the company would need to either control the secure chip that holds the wallet applications or be able to manage those applications.

That means a Google Wallet is unlikely to share space on the same phone with, say, a wallet from the Isis mobile operator joint venture or one from card network Visa Inc. No wallet war? Really?

Google to Expand Wallet to Europe in 2012; Sees One Wallet Per Phone