via Endgadget

At their New York City headquarters today Google unveiled the partners and products that make up Google Wallet, their mobile payment app.

As an entrepreneur in the space recently told Betabeat, every major credit card company is looking for a tech firm to join with. "Bascially, you need to bring a partner to the dance," she said. 

Google is partnering with Mastercard, as well as offering their own rewards card. "It's actually way more secure than your physical wallet. There is the screen lock, the pin code and encrypted data which doesn't share your entire credit card number."

The Wallet app will sync with Google Offers so users can get a discount in their email, save it with one click, and redeem it later by simply swiping their phones. The big partners on the retail side include Macy's, Subway, Walgreens and American Eagle.

The app works on the Nexus S, which has a built-in NFC chip and all kinds of sci-fi protection, including what Google's security specialist claims to be protection against laser attacks and a self-destruct program if someone tries to remove the chip.

During the demo Osama Bedier, formerly of PayPal and now Google's mobile pay head honcho,  searched for "denim shorts," got an offer right at the top of his results, and saved it for 20 percent off. This could bring even more scrutiny to how Google privileges its own search results above organic information.

Soon, says Google, this will be integrated with various properties like Google Places, where merchants can post their own offers, and within mobile ads that can be served up in a location-specific way.

Google is very excited about game mechanics, a spokesman said, an awesome but morally ambiguous thing to integrate directly into someone's wallet.

This is a public test of some bleeding edge stuff Foursquare has been working on for a while. As note in the blog post, "NFC is, obviously, a long way from being available everywhere and in all phones, but we’re excited by some of the potential."

Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley has a history with Google, which acquired and eventually shut down his first location based service, Dodgeball. The appearance of Foursquare at this conference, instead of Google's homegrown Latitude service, has SAI's Dan Frommer speculating about a reunion between the two.

The next generation of smartphones will most likely include technology that would enable mobile payments. Google is already planning trials of NFC payment systems, shouldering the cost of installing special readers at thousands of merchant locations.

Now NY1 is reporting that the city is looking to institute similar technology in place of the current Metrocard system.

This could act as a much needed catalyst, giving the average New Yorker a chance to get comfortable with what might seem at first like an alien practice, using their phones as mobile wallets.

As Erick Schonfeld points out, consumer behavior and lack of infrastructure are the two biggest challenges facing widespread deployment of NFC. Backing from big, powerful entities like Google and city government would go a long way towards addressing those obstacles.

Betabeat is imagining a future of checking in to the subway, with special rewards for dutiful F train riders.