Google is offering a new mobile payment service, involving credit and stored payments methods in Android smartphones, plus hooks to loyalty cards and special offers.
Because it provides an alternative, low-cost mobile communications service, Google Voice is often compared to both Skype and Vonage though each is based on slightly different technology.
Google Wallet is the first mobile payments service to really show promise in adding capabilities like the above on top of a base payment platform by bringing their ecosystem of local services like Google Places and Offers into the fold.