After a lot of speculation Google has now launched Google check-out which aims to make repetitive payments via credit-card easier. Essentially it is a new button which does al the fill-in work for the consumer, while keeping the consumer data confidential. Merchants do not get the full credit-card number, just the ok on a transaction.
As a mechanism for the user it is similar to verified by Visa. The difference is that with verified by Visa the bank kwows that you're in the program while with Google-check-out it doesn't. So the liability rules will be different.
