I occasionally use my cell phone to talk, and on still rarer occasions, to snap a photo. It mostly serves as a pocket-born paperweight. But for those of you who are a little more in touch with the mobile market, Google has just the thing: Google Checkout for mobile.
If you’re familiar with Google Checkout (and have the patience to work with tiny buttons and a small screen), then the learning curve should approach zero. “The Checkout experience has a couple differences in the mobile world – for example, buyers verify their identity with a PIN rather than with their full Google login – but generally it’s the same secure and convenient experience that’s offered on the desktop,” writes Peisun Wu on the Official Google Checkout Blog.
That’s good for consumers, but the Googler continued by saying that merchants should find Google Checkout for mobile convenient, as well. “US and UK Checkout merchants who have mobile-friendly sites can now offer their customers a fast and secure way to shop online while on the go. Existing merchants who have a WAP-enabled site can now use Google Checkout for mobile with no changes, and when new merchants perform a standard Google Checkout merchant integration, the mobile functionality will be implemented automatically.”
All’s well, then, for mobile-minded people in the US and UK. And, as an American who probably won’t use the new service (however nifty it is), I wouldn’t complain too loudly even if it wasn’t. But as the author of Sans Web asks, “what about other countries? […] I can’t wait to get my hands on some Google Checkout here in Australia.”
