Google Launches Google Wallet To Help You Store Your Credit Cards, Tickets and More (techcrunch.com) 32
At its I/O developer conference, Google today launched Google Wallet, a new Android and Wear OS app that will allow users to store things like credit cards, loyalty cards, digital IDs, transit passes, concert tickets, vaccination cards and more. TechCrunch reports: That's pretty straightforward, but from here on out, it gets a bit confusing. [...] [Back in 2018, Google Wallet was folded into Google Pay.] Currently, Google Pay is available in 42 markets, Google says. Because in 39 of those markets, Google Pay is still primarily a wallet, those users will simply see the Google Pay app update to the new Google Wallet app. But in the U.S. and Singapore, Google Pay will remain the payments-focused app while the Wallet app will exist in parallel to focus on storing your digital cards. Meanwhile, in India, Google says that "people will continue to use their Google Pay app they are familiar with today."
"The Google Pay app will be a companion app to the Wallet," said Arnold Goldberg, the VP and GM of Payments at Google, who joined the company earlier this year after a long stint at PayPal. "Think of [the Google Pay app] as this higher value app that will be a place for you to make payments and manage money, whereas the wallet will really be this container for you to store your payment assets and your non-payment assets." Goldberg noted that Google decided to go this route because of the rapid digitization we've been seeing during the last two years of the pandemic.
"The Google Pay app will be a companion app to the Wallet," said Arnold Goldberg, the VP and GM of Payments at Google, who joined the company earlier this year after a long stint at PayPal. "Think of [the Google Pay app] as this higher value app that will be a place for you to make payments and manage money, whereas the wallet will really be this container for you to store your payment assets and your non-payment assets." Goldberg noted that Google decided to go this route because of the rapid digitization we've been seeing during the last two years of the pandemic.
Don't get too attached (Score:5, Insightful)
You should know the average lifespan of these kinds of projects by now
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> The ONLY Google thing I'm really attached to is my Google account. I don't even use GMail.
Which is great until Google lock your account - which happened to me for refusing to supply them with a date-of-birth.
At this point, you'll lose access to all google services.
Luckily, they gave me a few months warning, so I had time to transfer everything to other providers - things like domain-name registrations, my company's calendar/drive/docs, analytics, etc.
Not being to use the app-store on android is a PITA
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You should know the average lifespan of these kinds of projects by now
Which is why Google doesn't make antiseptic [betadine.com] products ... :-)
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A single standard for tickets would be a great boon, something I can download to my device ahead of time that i
Really...? (Score:4, Informative)
"Android Pay was a successor to and built on the base established by Google Wallet which was released in 2011."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
What's old is new again, I guess? Typic Google rebranding services so many times, they eventually start re-using the same name for the same service, in a different era.
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So, is this reboot Soft or Hard? [quora.com]
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McDonalds was the only one I could find back in 2011. Maybe CVS as well, but almost none had the hardware. Back then they used to give out NFC stickers you could put on your phone to pay as well.
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It's better than what Microsoft did with the Surface brand. That was confusing for anyone who ever saw a news piece about the tabletop computer.
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Sheraton Hotel in Downtown Seattle used to have one of those. I'd pop in all the time to screw around with that thing. It was really awesome and innovative what they were trying to do with it.
But in true Microsoft fashion, they killed the product before going mainstream with it.
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Google seems to have a real problem with lack of planning and cooperation between groups. The worst example is the number of different messaging apps they have had over the years, but pay/wallet is another.
Google dot Google (Score:4, Funny)
Bringing you hot Inception style Google on Google action all day long ...
free (Score:5, Insightful)
The app is free, as long as it can track every transaction you ever make anywhere no matter how trivial. You'll feel great knowing that Google uses the tracking to sell you to advertisers.
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How is this different? (Score:1)
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Google Talk, Voice, Hangouts, Duo, Allo, Talk.
They get bored and wander away like a toddler, then pick it up again sometime later and find it interesting again. The cycle repeats.
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I'm hoping they're making it more like Apple Wallet where it's a little quicker to access items like tickets
as if (Score:3, Informative)
yes I have android phone and it uses google account, for which I've never paid a cent.
No, I've never given google or its apps my credit card number, I wasn't born yesterday.
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What exactly are you concerned Google is going to do with your credit card number? They're a massive multi-billion dollar company, not like they're going to make rogue charges to your card.
What an original concept (Score:5, Funny)
This will completely kill off iOS. It will take long time for iOS to catch up with this feature.
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Funny thing is, I might trust an app that Apple made as it probably will not spy on me without a warrant. With Google I know up front that it is spyware and I should not trust it.
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Funny thing is, I might trust an app that Apple made as it probably will not spy on me without a warrant.
Apple is part of PRISM like everyone else, so if they make an app that stores your PII you can be sure it will spy on you without a warrant just like everyone else's app.
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Funny thing is, I might trust an app that Apple made as it probably will not spy on me without a warrant.
Apple is part of PRISM like everyone else, so if they make an app that stores your PII you can be sure it will spy on you without a warrant just like everyone else's app.
He's going to be shocked in a few years to find out that Apple was monetising his personal data as much as Google has been, except they were less honest and gave you fewer options to opt out of. It's not like it's buried in their T&Cs that they can share data with 3rd parties.
NOPE (Score:5, Informative)
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Hard Pass (Score:1)
No longer care about Google products.
Tax office can track what you spent (Score:2)
Hardware now! (Score:2)
I wish Google would launch a nice leather wallet. I haven't been able to find a decent one in stores for over 20 years, and my current one is totally falling apart.
Nope (Score:1)
And letting Google archive all my financial transactions? For their own use? Ha! Nope. Nope. Nope....
Just email them all your financials (Score:2)