Google rolls out mobile payments application on Sprint Nextel

Rolling out its mobile-payments application on Sprint Nextel Corp's network, Google Inc said it was teaming up with teaming up with Visa Inc, Discover Financial Services and American Express Co to make the service more widely available.

The internet search company's earlier partners included Citigroup Inc and MasterCard Inc. It uses so-called near-field communication technology to allow consumers to make payments by tapping a smartphone on a reader at checkout.

Google said in a blog post today that the Google Wallet service now available on a hand set from Sprint, would enable users to charge their items to Citi MasterCard credit cards.

''Our goal is to make it possible for you to add all of your payment cards to Google Wallet, so you can say goodbye to even the biggest traditional wallets,'' the company said in the blog post.

Visa, Discover and American Express had opened their NFC specifications to Google, which would allow the addition of their cards to future versions of the application, Google said.

Google can now capture more information about the shopping behaviour of consumers, thanks to the new service. With the agreement, Visa now gets a presence across two digital wallets besides its own, which it launched in May. Visa is also present on Isis, a joint venture between mobile-phone companies.