Thursday Google presented Google Wallet, Its new payment system via mobile phone, based on NFC technology, A system that, if successful, allowed to perform payments via mobile and that, therefore, saves us having to carry credit cards because we can do the same through our phone. The concept of payment via mobile is not new, in fact,there was something that had always been announced in Japan, never came out.
The day after the presentation of Google Wallet, eBay and PayPal sued Google for using this system because, among the team behind the Google Wallet, are two executives of these companies they accuse of stealing trade secrets to develop this product. Whether true or not Google Wallet is all a financial revolution that is going to change the habits of users and if the change is accepted then, you can assume a turning point in our habits.
Of course, any “revolution” needs a breeding ground and as such, for this new payment system needed to be successful three main factors are: deployment, support and ease of use.
- The deployment is given by the businesses that implement this payment system. Currently, this system is being tested in the United States and, initially, big chains like Macy’s or Subway will participate in the pilot program will be supported by financial institutions such as Citi or Master Card. But then, once passed the testing phase, the larger the number of stores that support this type of payments the greater the likelihood that permeates users and, of course, this deployment will depend mainly on costs to be borne by merchants for each transaction.
- Currently only the Samsung Nexus S 4G supports this service but, of course, this is not the best way to popularize this payment model, it is seek a greater number of terminals and platforms that support it. Fortunately, do not need to change mobile to use this service but, over time, should be a device with NFC support to maximize the full potential of service. Google hopes that the other platforms include support for NFC, as this is included by the manufacturers of devices, which themselves serve to extend the service much. IPhone is expected to include support for NFC 5 as expected in Windows Phone Mango, Which declined in presentation but is expected to include as an update later. Anyway, not expected that NFC technology is somewhat extended, globally, through 2014 and until then, it is estimated that next year only 15% of the new devices include it so that the penetration of this payment system will be slow.
- With respect to ease of use, at a glance does not seem to be anything complicated to use But despite its ease, users and traders seek certain guarantees on the security of transactions made, something that the service guarantees. This new model, at least, offers a much faster transactions than the traditional credit card, but of little use if the ecosystem in which they can use Google Wallet is small.
One of the features provided by Google Wallet is the connection with bids Google Offers and the possibility of showing a map of the shops around us who have deals that also allow payment with this payment system. We all know that financial institutions collect data on our shopping habits, for example, offer certain financial products that ties with our banking transactions but if we translate this analysis into the world of Google and combined it with Google Offers, Lattitude and our purchases through Google Wallet, the amount of data about our habits that Google would be able to extract is enormous, in fact, a benefit far more interesting than the commissions that may be carried by each of the transactions made.
In any case, the idea is very interesting and, frankly, have enough potential to become a success but perhaps it is still too soon to be launched in a much more massive, indeed, possibly even have to spend a couple of years as we begin to see nearby shops which include such payments.
Images: Mary Altaffer
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