Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, AmEx and Discover

This could, and should be the future. Will it be? Probably not for a while, mostly because Visa and AMEX will launch their own competitive products. Stores will be forced to make a choice as to which system they support. Google will scream for everyone to adopt their "open" system while everyone else will complain about Google wanting to be a monopoly in this new field. The feds will intervene and we'll see years of lawsuits. And, eventually, we'll end up with the ideal system, where everyone will support a standard-based open wallet system and every store will have something that supports that.. in 10-20 years.

Does google get a copy of your purchase data?

Perhaps related to this bit of information from the GigaOM article (link: http://gigaom.com/2011/09/19/google-wallet-goes-live-with-nf...):

Isis, a rival NFC payment system led by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile is also preparing to launch early next year.

I think so. According to http://www.google.com/wallet/privacy.html

Transaction information - When you use Google Wallet to conduct a transaction, information regarding the transaction may be stored in the Google Wallet Application. We may collect information about these transactions from the Google Wallet Application. We also collect transaction data from your use of the Google Wallet Service. For example, if you use the Google Wallet Application to make a purchase at a merchant or download a merchant coupon, we may obtain information regarding that transaction from the Wallet Application, from the merchant and/or a partner, as applicable. The information may include the date and time of the purchase, the store location, the amount of the purchase, and the offer associated with the transaction.

Information about your use of Google Wallet - We may collect information about your interaction with the Google Wallet Service and the Google Wallet Application. This may include, for example, data on number of offers saved, payment attempts, and provisioning activity. Using added services may require your opt-in consent for Google Wallet to offer the functionality. For example, you may be offered the opportunity to opt-in to a service whereby Wallet would present offers to you based on your transaction activity through Wallet.

Is traditional cash really a problem? What problems does cash solve that pucca shells do not?

For me, it sounds like a super convenient way to replace my stupid thick wallet with a rubber band around my ID and some paper money.