LAS VEGAS — In a keynote at the Money2020 conference in LasVegas, Google Wallet guru Osama Bedier opened his talk with an unexpected memory of shopping ata neighborhood grocery in Cairo, Egypt when he was a boy.

The merchant greeted his mom by name, chatted with her about herfavorite olives, occasionally threw a free loaf of fresh bread inher bag and he even routinely called Bedier's dad when a particularfavorite cheese was in stock.

“That is what we are missing in digital commerce today,” saidBedier, who insisted that the path to success with a digital walletis to find ways to enrich the personal experience.

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Will pay by phone replace credit cards, Bedier was asked at theMonday afternoon session. Nope, was his answer, and he elaboratedthat the transaction piece is a small part of the puzzle.

Consumers will use digital wallets, he said, when they aresufficiently motivated by other attractions. Replacing creditcards cannot be what it is all about.

That said, Bedier also painted a world where mobile istriumphing on every front. By the end of 2012 we will do moreemail on mobile than with desktop computers. Already, morethan half of Google Maps usage is mobile. By 2013, mobile Webwill triumph over the desktop Web. Connect the dots and,inevitably, mobility will become a force at retail point ofsale.

“Mobile is the glue that will hold the digital wallet together,”said Bedier.

He added that, to gain ubiquity, the wallet has to save time ormoney or both.

Importantly, Bedier used his talk to seemingly back off Google'smonogamous embrace of Near Field Communication, NFC, as a payments enabling tool.

“There will be bridging technologies,” said Bedier, who seemedto see a role for QR codes as an interim solution pending roll outof more NFC-capable phones and terminals.

He insisted however that right now NFC is the best way toconnect two intelligent devices such as a phone and a smartterminal.

Bedier took pains to say that Google wants to work with financial institutions. We have a “bankfriendly approach,” he said. He indicated Google'swillingness to pass through consumer data to their financialinstitutions and he suggested there would be ways for institutionsto communicate with customers directly inside Google Wallet.

Bedier ended with a tantalizing suggestion that a majorannouncement about a substantial expansion of Google Wallet wouldbe made very soon – but it would not be this day as he deflectedcalls for more detail.

Analysts suggested that the Google announcement would be a dealmuch like PayPal's with Discover Card, where PayPal will soon be acceptedat merchants who accept Discover. But there has been noconfirmation of a similar Google tie up.

Money2020 is a huge conference – held at the Aria in Las Vegas –that claims over 2,000 attendees, with many drawn from the mobilepayments and digital wallet worlds.