The online payments industry was rocked last summer when Google rolled out Google Checkout. While the jury is still out on whether Checkout will ever dethrone the reigning king of online payments, PayPal, it is clearly a force to be reckoned with due to Google's online reach and influence.

Recently, Google announced that they've extended the Checkout service to mobile phones. The team behind the launch wrote the following on their blog about the new functionality:

Existing Google Checkout buyers are now able to make fast, secure purchases on their mobile phones from any WAP–enabled Checkout merchant. The Checkout experience has a couple differences in the mobile world—for example, buyers verify their identity with a PIN rather than with their full Google login—but generally it's the same secure and convenient experience offered on the desktop.

This is an exciting development that we'll be keeping a close eye on over the next few months. If you're interested in learning more about this new mobile commerce service immediately, we recommend you start with the FAQs.