The new “Helpouts” program by Google connects experts with people in need of answers via Google Hangouts and Google Plus. But the human help engine is only the technological evolution of a series of Google products designed to fulfill the same purpose. Its now-defunct Knol and Answers products are cases in point. Knol was designed […]
Google Wallet has finally launched for iOS, though since Apple’s iPhone and iPad lack NFC the app focuses on sending mobile payments rather than in-store use. While on Android the focus of Google Wallet has been to turn smartphones into tap-to-pay credit cards, Apple’s continued avoidance of NFC has forced a less revolutionary approach on […]
Oh hey, Google Wallet is on iOS. The new app comes a few days after Wallet’s wide release
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Android users, this is where you unashamedly stick your tongue out at iOS loyalists while making childish noises with your lips. (In your fantasies, at least — that’s pretty rude to do in real life.) The Google Wallet app for Android has just been revised, with users in the United States told to expect it in phases throughout the week. One of the biggest additions is the ability to send cash on the go to any adult in the US with an email address — as is the case in Gmail, sending money directly from one’s bank or one’s Wallet account is free, while the usual fees apply if you’re dinging that credit card. Plus, if you’re still waiting for the option to send money in Gmail, just using this app once will automatically enable that.
Moreover, the app is doing its darndest to replace Key Ring, allowing individuals to load loyalty cards of all types directly into the app. In theory, this should cut down on how much plastic you have to carry around, but we’ve still seen stores that have a heck of a time scanning a digital rewards card. If you’re into saving money, Wallet now holds offers from Maps, Google Search, Google+ and Google Offers, and we get the impression that the company will be allying with a number of merchants in the near future in order to make this particular tidbit more attractive. Head on over to the Google Play Store to see if the new build is showing up for you.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Google
Source: Google Commerce, Google Play Store
Google rolled out Google Wallet back in 2011, and now the time has come to retire Google Checkout. The news was made in an announcement earlier today, with Google notifying merchants using Google Checkout that in six months the service will go dark following a transition to Wallet. This follows the addition of Google Wallet to Gmail, allowing users to send someone money from within their inbox.
Google Checkout is officially being retired on November 20, requiring users selling physical items to use Google Wallet Instant Buy if they already have payment processing. If a merchant doesn’t have payment processing, Google has partnered with three options: Freshbooks, Braintree, and Shopify. Via the partnership, Google Checkout users will get a discount when migrating to one of the three.
Individuals who use Google Checkout to sell items via a Google service, such as Google Play and the Chrome Web Store, won’t have to migrate, instead being automatically switched over to Google Wallet at an unspecified date in the next few weeks. Those who sell both physical items and digital items via a Google service will only see their Checkout functionality disappear in November.
Google suggests that users switch to a different system from Checkout before the retirement date rolls around, advising that failing to do so could cause some disruption to the merchant’s business if an alternative isn’t in place by November 20. New orders will no longer be accepted on that date, while refunds can still be initiated for an extra month, with that ability going down on December 20.
November 21 will be the last day for merchants to ship orders, with all outstanding orders being automatically cancelled on November 27. Google says it won’t be “proactively” informing Google Wallet users of this change, and so merchants should do that on an individual basis if they feel it is necessary. A replacement to Checkout APIs will be announced “shortly.”
SOURCE: Google
Google Checkout to be retired November 20 is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
No longer are email attachments only limited to files. Today, Google announced that Gmail will be getting Google Wallet integration, where users will be able to send money to recipients by attaching a Google Wallet payment to an email. A new money icon will appear in the compose toolbar next to the Google Drive icon where you’ll be able to attach money to your message, giving an all-new to “penny for your thoughts.”
After clicking on the money symbol, all you have to do is enter in an amount and select the source from which the money will come from — it can even be a credit or debit card. After that, all you do is click “Attach” and then you’ll be able to type an email message and send off your money through the internet pipes to your friend or family member.
The below shows the process in a bit more detail, as well as how you can receive money — you don’t even need a Gmail address in order to receive a Google Wallet payment from someone with Gmail. If you receive a payment, all you do is click on “Claim Money” and you’ll be able to boost your checking account that much more.
This is most likely Google’s answer to competing with PayPal, which currently dominates the online money market. Google is looking to take away some of that market share with the ability to easily send payments to other people, something that PayPal users have been able to do for quite some time. However, it’ll take a little more effort on Google’s part to make a huge dent in PayPal. PayPal is integrated into hundreds of online retail websites, as well as eBay, so if Google wants to gain attention and take a chunk away from PayPal, they’ll have to get Google Wallet integrated into other services.
Nonetheless, the Gmail attachment feature for Google Wallet will be rolling out within the next couple of months, and it’ll only be available for users who are 18 years old or older. Also, each transaction sent through Gmail will still cost a 2.9% fee for each payment you send on through ($0.30 minimum).
Google Wallet comes to Gmail with money attachments is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Google has scrapped plans to launch a physical Google Wallet credit card at Google IO next week, it’s reported, focusing instead on the digital wallet and NFC functionality baked into Android smartphones. The company had intended to reveal the credit card – which was to be black with a rainbow “W”, so AllThingsD reports – at its annual developer event, but wonky run-throughs and concerns from management that the scheme was insufficiently futuristic saw it knocked from the schedule.
In fact, Google CEO Larry Page is said to be responsible for killing off the card plans, something he’s believed to have been skeptical about for some time. Page “felt it did not press forward innovation as payments startups like Square have done” AllThingsD’s sources claim.
The demise of the Google Wallet credit card hasn’t just shaken up Google IO next week, but staffing within the company. Head of Google Wallet Osama Bedier was confirmed to have left the company yesterday, “pushed out” it’s said in favor of shifting the division into the ads and commerce team. Sridhar Ramaswarmy is now directly in charge of Wallet.
Although the physical card won’t see the light of day, for a while if ever, that’s not to say Google Wallet is going anywhere. The system will be updated with new rewards, offers, and loyalty points, it’s said, with more merchants coming on-board to accept the NFC payments. What won’t be happening any time soon is integration with Google Now, though, with the teams described as “siloed” in a way which has prevented data sharing.
Google had supposedly gone so far as to bake physical card support into the new Google Wallet app, and prototypes of the cards had already been produced. As per a usual card, they included a magnetic stripe and raised numbers; despite suggestions that Google would launch its own bank, the actual project was to partner with existing banks, and source behavioral data around shopping patterns through third-parties, rather than directly from Visa and MasterCard.
Google Wallet physical card plans reportedly axed last-minute by CEO Page is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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