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Is that list of steps to use Google Wallet in this article correct? If so, that wasn't the promise of NFC at all! I have an Android phone on which I use the legacy Japanese NFC system which doesn't require waking up the phone at all (it even works if the battery is depleted).

He says that tapping a device against another one is undesirable, but I think people like that kind of "I have to do this for money to disappear out of my account" reassurance.

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I can picture it now :D

Me: "This isn't what I ordered."

Cashier: "It's what you ordered last time. We went ahead and made it for you. And we also charged your account. Aren't you delighted?"

Me: "But I just wanted a coffee. Now my account is overdrawn, and you just cost me a $35 overdraft fee."

Of course the decision point still needs to be maintained - that is, the human should retain the trigger on a predictive transaction unless they explicitly give it up, such as in recurring payments or that XKCD $1 bid bot! :-P

No, that list of steps is wrong. Google Wallet doesn't require you to unlock your phone or launch the Wallet app. You just hold your phone up to the reader and enter a PIN.

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