Google Pay Gets a Major Redesign With a New Emphasis on Personal Finance (techcrunch.com) 17
Google is launching a major redesign of its Google Pay app on both Android and iOS today. From a report: Like similar phone-based contactless payment services, Google Pay -- or Android Pay as it was known then -- started out as a basic replacement for your credit card. Over time, the company added a few more features on top of that but the overall focus never really changed. After about five years in the market, Google Pay now has about 150 million users in 30 countries. With today's update and redesign, Google is keeping all the core features intact but also taking the service in a new direction with a strong emphasis on helping you manage your personal finances (and maybe get a deal here and there as well). Google is also partnering with 11 banks to launch a new kind of bank account in 2021. Called Plex, these mobile-first bank accounts will have no monthly fees, overdraft charges or minimum balances. The banks will own the accounts but the Google Pay app will be the main conduit for managing these accounts. The launch partners for this are Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union.
"What we're doing in this new Google Pay app, think of it is combining three things into one," Google director of product management Josh Woodward said as he walked me through a demo of the new app. "The three things are three tabs in the app. One is the ability to pay friends and businesses really fast. The second is to explore offers and rewards, so you can save money at shops. And the third is getting insights about your spending so you can stay on top of your money." Paying friends and businesses was obviously always at the core of Google Pay -- but the emphasis here has shifted a bit. "You'll notice that everything in the product is built around your relationships," Caesar Sengupta, Google's lead for Payments and Next Billion Users, told me. "It's not about long lists of transactions or weird numbers. All your engagements pivot around people, groups, and businesses."
"What we're doing in this new Google Pay app, think of it is combining three things into one," Google director of product management Josh Woodward said as he walked me through a demo of the new app. "The three things are three tabs in the app. One is the ability to pay friends and businesses really fast. The second is to explore offers and rewards, so you can save money at shops. And the third is getting insights about your spending so you can stay on top of your money." Paying friends and businesses was obviously always at the core of Google Pay -- but the emphasis here has shifted a bit. "You'll notice that everything in the product is built around your relationships," Caesar Sengupta, Google's lead for Payments and Next Billion Users, told me. "It's not about long lists of transactions or weird numbers. All your engagements pivot around people, groups, and businesses."
Uh, no thanks. (Score:3)
social credit (Score:4, Insightful)
Vast majority of payments in China are now through their social credit/Wechat system. Google really likes that model. This way you know exactly what everyone is buying, and you control all their finances all the time. You can predict dissent early and punish it severely.
Just remember - a stable system doesn't mean it's a good system, but I am sincerely unsure how such a system can ever be changed, if it controls and monitors every important aspect of people's lives. No organized dissent is possible at the outset.
Re: (Score:2)
Just what I wanted! (Score:2)
Until now, there was no convenient way to hand over key financial information about me to google, limiting their ability to target me.
Now, there is!
This will be tough to follow up. Perhaps a direct link to proctology offices, with instant upload?
hawk
Reformatted that for you (Score:3)
"The three things are three tabs in the app. One is the ability to pay friends and businesses really fast. The second is to explore offers and rewards, so you can save money at shops. And the third is getting insights about your spending so you can stay on top of your money."
RTFY
Google...plex (Score:2)
Hey, I get it!
I don't get why they called it that, but I get the joke!
Tools for simpletons (Score:3)
"It's not about long lists of transactions or weird numbers. All your engagements pivot around people, groups, and businesses."
This alone makes this sound like something I don't want. (Never mind the data collection overtones.)
It may be great for simpletons, but personally I want a simple list of my transactions _without_ someone else [who may or may not have motives of their own] interpreting it for me.
Customer Service? (Score:2)
The banks will own the accounts but the Google Pay app will be the main conduit for managing these accounts. The launch partners for this are Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union.
If you have a problem with your account, will you be able to get a hold of a live customer service representative? And who do you contact, the bank or Google (the main conduit for managing the accounts)?
Trying to have a discussion with and get help from a customer service rep via an app is a horrible experience when you're trying to resolve a problem, IMO.
And some apps [freep.com] don't even have a live customer service rep. [slashdot.org]. There's no one to talk to directly, so user beware.
It'll be gone soon enough (Score:2)
who would sign up for this? (Score:3)
to me, the idea that FB, paypal, google, et al, of the major players in the surveillance economy would be trustworthy with my personal finances is off-the-charts stupid
serious question, does anyone actually know people that would sign up? no guessing or vilifying who these folks might be, but actual real life people? I'd like to know the line of thought they have... it just seems so foreign to me to think like that, knowing what I know
Sign Me Up! (Score:1)
no monthly fees, overdraft charges or minimum balances.
Step 1, sign up for free account with zero balance.
Step 2, charge however much they will let you since "no overdraft charges" means they let you charge more than the account holds.
Step 3: Shut down account, and Profit!
Re: (Score:2)
Google wants your money (Score:2)
No thanks. I will not trust a banking app with ads in it.
Google's rep works against them here (Score:2)
With Google's penchant for dropping products arbitrarily, and given that you want reliability above all in a banking app, it's hard to imaging this taking off.
Nope (Score:1)