PAYDAY

Google Phones to Act as Credit Cards

“Wallet” app lets you pay with a swipe of phone.

Where were you on this one, Apple? Google Inc. has announced plans to unveil Google Wallet, a mobile device application that will allow consumers to make purchases with the swipe of their smartphones. Google said that the application will launch this summer and that it expects purchases made on mobile phones to quadruple by 2014. Other cellphone makers, including Apple and Nokia, are also rushing to upgrade their smartphones with similar applications. Androids that can access Google Wallet will have built-in microchips that can communicate data to credit-card reading devices, like those carried around by Apple store employees.