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Your Next High Street Purchase Doesn't Require Cash, Cards, Wallet or even a SmartPhone

Your Next High Street Purchase Doesn't Require Cash, Cards, Wallet or even a SmartPhone Source: LevelUp

Just say the magic words "OK Google, start LevelUp", and your payment is settled within minutes. That's where we are heading with wearables now doubling up as mobile payment devices. LevelUp, the largest mobile and smartwatch payments network in the U.S announced the launch of their LevelUp application for Android Wear™ that allows customers using  Android wearables, such as the LG G Watch, Samsung Gear Live or the upcoming Moto 360 Android to pay for their purchases using these gears.

The LevelUp app is downloadable to the wearable device and as soon as it detects a LevelUp merchant in the vicinity, it prompts the user on whether they would like to make payments in that store. Users can either scan or swipe to initiative the payment and receive a push notification that confirms the payment before they walk off with their purchases. Just as mobile payments are taking off via smartphones, the idea of a smartwatch providing the same capability pushes the smartwatch segment to a newer level, as a multi-purpose gadget that is able to manage a wide variety of transactions with more ease and convenience owing to its form factor and the fact that it is always attached to the user's body.

Mobile payments through both wearables and smart devices will benefit from simplified payment applications.With wide coverage of outlets and merchants and high levels of security in connecting to debit and credit cards for settlements in addition to the capability to intelligently filter and deliver information regarding rewards, sales and offers, wearables with attract more users, especially those in the younger age group and those who are internet savvy to adopt mobile payment services for daily use. The future is indeed cash-less, card-less, wallet-less and maybe, phone-less.

"Over 1.5 million LevelUp users can now pay with their smartphones at over 14,000 locations. But, what we really always dreamed of was being the largest smartwatch payment network. Unfortunately, the technology was never there. Today we get one step closer to realizing that dream."

-   Seth Priebatsch, Chief Ninja of LevelUp

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