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Google Just Launched Another Answer To Apple Pay (cnbc.com) 138

Google launched its latest answer to Apple Pay on Tuesday. It's called Google Pay and replaces Android Pay, a previous solution that let Android users buy goods with their smartphones. From a report: It's also Google's answer to Apple Pay and Apple Pay Cash. Google Pay follows several failed attempts by Google to launch a widespread payment platform. The company launched Google Wallet several years ago before folding it and launching Android Pay. Google Pay combines features from both, including the ability to pay at checkout counters with a smartphone, and even the option to scan into transit systems in cities such as Kiev, London and Portland, initially.
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Google Just Launched Another Answer To Apple Pay

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  • by TheFakeTimCook ( 4641057 ) on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @11:52AM (#56157742)

    Are they still trying to insinuate themselves into each and every transaction, so they can both datamine and line their pockets?

    Yes, Apple does get a REALLY small transaction-fee; but otherwise, is COMPLETELY blind to the transaction itself.

    I think the transaction fees as simply aggregated into a lump-sum payment to Apple, with absolutely NO per-transaction information divulged to them.

    Until Google will accept that model (which I am SURE they will never do), they can go pound sand.

    • by thsths ( 31372 )

      > Are they still trying to insinuate themselves into each and every transaction, so they can both datamine and line their pockets?

      Maybe, but they are also trying to get a proper mobile payment platform for Android off the ground.

      Android had the host based card emulation API for a long time - allowing any bank to write an app with NFC functionality. Very few banks did so.

      Now that Google has done the work, they want some reward for it. Maybe 0.15% is a bit much, maybe 0.1% or 0.01% would be better, but at

      • > Are they still trying to insinuate themselves into each and every transaction, so they can both datamine and line their pockets?

        Maybe, but they are also trying to get a proper mobile payment platform for Android off the ground.

        Android had the host based card emulation API for a long time - allowing any bank to write an app with NFC functionality. Very few banks did so.

        Now that Google has done the work, they want some reward for it. Maybe 0.15% is a bit much, maybe 0.1% or 0.01% would be better, but at least the principle is sound.

        0.15% is what Apple Pay charges the BANK. But then again, they don't insinuate themselves into every transaction, nor do they get any data about the transaction itself.

        Seems to me that Google should PAY the USER (Customer) for the datamining, and for getting in the middle of a financial transaction. After all, that's one of the ways that financial institutions make money. It's called "Overnight Loans", and it explains why a whole BUNCH of financial transactions take DAYS to "process", when in reality, NOTHI

  • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @11:52AM (#56157744)

    Why can't I use my Apple Device to send Cash to an Android User? Why do stores need to support each device separately?

    While I ask the question, the answer is relatively simple. Each company wants to be the leader in the area, and wants their technology to win, so they don't need to pay royalties to the other.

    Sometimes competition is good, other times it steps on each other and creates problems for the consumers that most just don't want to deal with.

    • Why can't I use my Apple Device to send Cash to an Android User? Why do stores need to support each device separately?

      While I ask the question, the answer is relatively simple. Each company wants to be the leader in the area, and wants their technology to win, so they don't need to pay royalties to the other.

      Sometimes competition is good, other times it steps on each other and creates problems for the consumers that most just don't want to deal with.

      Subtitled: "Whatever happened to Quadraphonic Records?"

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Why can't I use my Apple Device to send Cash to an Android User? Why do stores need to support each device separately?

      Why can't it work world-wide either? Android Pay works fine for me in some parts of Europe, but not in Japan even though there are Android Pay logos on the terminals. It doesn't even get rejected, the phone just doesn't react.

    • by tk77 ( 1774336 )

      Why do stores need to support each device separately?

      It was my understanding that Apple Pay is pretty much EMV over NFC and if the stores' reader supports both of those technologies, then Apply Pay will "just work". Does the Google/Android Pay stuff not work this way? If I recall when Apple Pay went live some stores (ie, CVS) were automatically accepting it but then went and manually disabled support (because they were onboard with that failed CurrentC).

      As for Apple Pay Cash and Google's equivalent, yeah it would be nice if there was a standard that could b

      • by thsths ( 31372 )

        Yes, the technology is the same, but stores can decide not to support certain cards. Both Apply Pay and Google Pay are clearly recognisable.

    • Why can't I use my Apple Device to send Cash to an Android User?

      Because that would require the Android device receiving the payment to be a payment card acceptance device, with a contract with a merchant acquiring bank. There are both technical and contractual limitations in the NFC/EMV world that make this difficult. Same story if you wanted to do this with the phones reversed, or with two Apple devices or two Android devices.

      Why do stores need to support each device separately?

      They don't. Both systems use small variants of the standard protocols, and both are well-supported by all major card acceptance devices. If store

  • by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @12:01PM (#56157814)
    ...is that you never need to associate a bank account or credit card with it.
    • You don't have to do that with an I-phone... It just keeps complaining about it but you can ignore it...

    • ...is that you never need to associate a bank account or credit card with it.

      You don't have to do that with an iPhone, either.

    • by DogDude ( 805747 )
      Hahahahahahahahaha... You have to associate a Google account with it, which is much, much worse than a credit card. I use a Windows Phone because I don't have to associate any kind of account with it to use it.
  • Slashdot, the Verge, and other Apple-fan sites can only view everything through their Apple lens. It is tiresome... just report on the product (it is supposed to be "News for Nerds" after all), ad keep your pre-digested spin to yourself.

    • Slashdot, the Verge, and other Apple-fan sites can only view everything through their Apple lens. It is tiresome... just report on the product (it is supposed to be "News for Nerds" after all), ad keep your pre-digested spin to yourself.

      The same might be said of you, too...

  • Love it (Score:2, Insightful)

    This is what? The 5th attempt from Google on the digital payment market?
    I love it because apparently Google's strategy on a whole lot of things (messaging for instance) is to keep changing it and promptly abandoning it afterwards to keep the market and potential costumers confused, so that no one knows what to use anymore.
    I have something installed called Hands Free! Can I pay with that?
    https://www.theverge.com/2017/... [theverge.com]
    Oh no, this one was discontinued. Oh, can I pay with Wallet then?
    That one was merged with

    • I dunno about the Wallet -> Android Pay transition. But this Android Pay -> Google Pay transition is pretty obvious and expected. Google is putting the finishing touches on Chrome OS. Genericizing their pay system so it's not Android-centric is completely logical and to be expected.

      BTW, there's probably going to be another consolidation transition in the future. Their online shopping/payment system is under Google Express. These probably started as different projects ("pay for stuff online" ve
    • This is what? The 5th attempt from Google on the digital payment market?

      Not really. There's really only been one attempt, that has been rebranded twice (Google Wallet -> Android Pay -> Google Pay) and changed the underlying technology twice -- the first time because they were using an embedded secure element which the carriers wanted to control, and the second time because network tokenization was finally ready (Apple waited until it was before launching).

      However, there is a lot of confusion because Google Wallet included a bunch of other stuff under the same name, and

  • We are trying desperately to copy Apple for 3+ years and now we have mastered it. Now you can pay with Google Pay with as much ease as Apple Pay. You also get the benefit that we will associate your payment with your gmail, hangout chat messages, location, search, android phone unique id and others. Eventually, we will be able to create your clone who knows more about you than you and will pass the remote identity test better than you can. Good luck if ever our data is compromised either by internal employe

    • by Nexus7 ( 2919 )

      I was using Google (or Android, or whatever it was called at the time) before Apple Pay was introduced. I been using it since through its various incarnations. It's always been easy - sure the underlying transaction mechanisms have changed - but it's been reasonably transparent to me.

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot&worf,net> on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @01:52PM (#56158540)

      We are trying desperately to copy Apple for 3+ years and now we have mastered it. Now you can pay with Google Pay with as much ease as Apple Pay. You also get the benefit that we will associate your payment with your gmail, hangout chat messages, location, search, android phone unique id and others. Eventually, we will be able to create your clone who knows more about you than you and will pass the remote identity test better than you can. Good luck if ever our data is compromised either by internal employees or external hack.

      Funny, but Google's been doing the payment thing far longer than Apple - Google Wallet's been around since Android's been around and Google's been doing NFC payments before NFC hit the iPhone (at least for years before).

      The only thing is, Apple Pay is based on standards - EMV. It's really at the very bottom an implementation (ignoring extra Apple pay frilly things for now). That's why It Just Worked at a lot of merchants - if they supported tap (NFC), they implicitly supported Apple Pay as well. The only hard part was getting banks enrolled, but that was more of an Apple and bank thing.

      Google Wallet was based on a debit card - you paid, Google was told about the transaction and Google then charged you. This double-billing meant it was easy to get funding sources (Google even ate the transaction fees), but it required retailer support.

      Google wanted to insert themselves into every transaction. Apple Pay was a more secure credit card.

      The only thing that's going wierdly is all the frilly stuff, like Apple pay being used to outdo paypal by offering person-to-person funding transfers as well. Those things aren't likely to take off.

      • Google Wallet was based on a debit card - you paid, Google was told about the transaction and Google then charged you. This double-billing meant it was easy to get funding sources (Google even ate the transaction fees), but it required retailer support.

        Google wanted to insert themselves into every transaction. Apple Pay was a more secure credit card.

        Google didn't want to insert themselves; it was the only technically feasible option at the time that wasn't impossible to scale.

        The debit card thing was the second implementation of Google Wallet, not the first. Being involved in every transaction that way cost Google money, because they were doing a "card present" (low fee) transaction with the merchant and a "card not present" (high fee) transaction with the backing credit card. So on every transaction Google collected a small fee from the merchant and

        • Google wanted to insert themselves into every transaction. Apple Pay was a more secure credit card.

          Google didn't want to insert themselves; it was the only technically feasible option at the time that wasn't impossible to scale.

          Yeah, right. They so much don't want to insert themselves that they're actively buying [technologyreview.com] offline credit card transaction data from third parties.

          On the contrary, I think Google salivates at the idea of inserting themselves into your wallet, and the deeper the better. They have a very strong motivation for collecting all your data and tracking all you buy - they can then use your purchases to show ad companies how efficient the ad buy is.

          • Did you even read the rest of the post?
            • Did you even read the rest of the post?

              Yes, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with my argument. You're describing some technical aspects of the payment process, and some history. This is irrelevant to the thread's subject, which is Google's tracking of your offline purchases.

              I took OP's complaint about Google "inserting" itself into the transaction as a criticism of Google's finding yet another way to get your data, and not as commiseration for the poor Google programmers who had to find a technical solution to implement it. Your message ignor

              • Did you even read the rest of the post?

                Yes, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with my argument. You're describing some technical aspects of the payment process, and some history. This is irrelevant to the thread's subject, which is Google's tracking of your offline purchases.

                Okay, after reading it, also engage your brain. Note that if you're purchasing stuff using Google's app (or Apple's) they don't need to actually be part of the financial transaction to track your purchase. It would be silly for Google to spend money just to get data they can already get.

      • but it required retailer support.

        Hogwash. Google wallet worked on every generic NFC machine long before Apple pay even came to the market. Apple pay, open? I remember it as that thing that needed negotiation between Apple and the bank to support and that was rolled out initially to a limited set of banks precisely because it DIDN'T follow standard processes. i.e. it didn't look like a card to the debit machine.

        In the mean time I was using Google Wallet several years before Apple even considered coming to the market, in a country in which i

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        Funny, but Google's been doing the payment thing far longer than Apple - Google Wallet's been around since Android's been around and Google's been doing NFC payments before NFC hit the iPhone (at least for years before).

        This... The problem that both google and Apple have is that it's a solution to a problem no-one has.

        Both Google and Apple are doing this the lazy way. In order to avoid being called a bank and having to comply with the myriad of banking regulations the world over, both "products" are just wrappers for another financial service provider's product (its just a wrapper for a credit card from a bank).

        Neither service offers any features that a credit card doesn't have but introduces additional risk and comp

  • The writing is on the wall that Android will not be with us for much longer. At least not as an officially maintained platform. Android is getting bigger and bigger and becoming harder to maintain. Plus Google has been moving to development in HTML PWA (Progressive Web Applications) and lighter weight Go based applications.

    Android is a mess. Its big. Its bulky. Its hard to maintain. And it has fragmented implementations. No phone table run Android the same way even on thier own devices.

    The plan as I se

    • Amazon Kindle alone has enough inertia to fork AOSP. Since Google fled, many Chinese OEMs build Android devices that never had Play and never will.

      Google knows very well of the large Android market segment that is beyond their control. Any attempt to kill the platform will see it immediately forked and forever wrested from their control.

      That would not be such a bad thing, but I don't think Google is foolish enough to try it.

    • by nwf ( 25607 )

      [citation needed]

      I develop on iOS and Android. They both are bloated and fragmented, granted iOS less so. I think it's actually easier to write Android apps that work on most all phones than writing iOS apps that look good on all iOS devices.

      I'll bet Android will be around for a long time. I can see Google moving more features under the "Google" brand since Android is becoming a generic term, but web-based OSes are crap and pretty much always will be.

      • It only takes one decent WASM platform to make web OS compelling. If developers can take their web development knowledge and build native apps with it, which also double as web apps with little effort, that's a very compelling proposition.

    • The writing is on the wall that Android

      Indeed. Windows ME was a disaster. 2001 will be the year of Linux on the desktop.

      17 years later, we're still seeing silly predictions.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    This is a dumb story. There is no "New Product" It is a rename of their Android Pay platform to make it a more generic name.
    The app automatically changes, and there is no functionality different from the current version of Android Pay.

    The app is just now called Google Pay. It's a smarter name as they want to emphasize it isn't only on Android.

    Glad this is "News for Nerds" but we can't tell the difference between a product rename and a whole new product.

  • I already do that with Android Pay. Have done for a few years now.
    I can (and do) use my phone at any NFC terminal.

  • If so, then still no sale.

    Google has not abused my trust with search data... yet, that I know of.

    They will still be a one-stop shop for government snoopers, via the third-party doctrine. I see no reason to make hoovering up everything I do with my money easy for them.

    Apple has gone out of its way to be a we-don't-want-to-know middleman in contactless payments, which makes them easier to trust.

  • It's called cash.

  • Google Pay combines features from both, including the ability to pay at checkout counters with a smartphone, and even the option to scan into transit systems in cities such as Kiev, London and Portland, initially.

    Great, just great. Most of the time when I get stuck behind some numpty at the barriers it's because they're pratting aronud with their iPhone rather than simply waving a credit card or oyster card over the card reader. I doubt android will improve things.

    Plus, this is a bit of a non-feature: the L

  • Google Just Launched Jizz On Another Answer To Apple Gay

  • Not sure why they are calling previous attempts failures. I've been using it continuously on my phones since about 2011, since it was the original Google Wallet. I still have all the cards I put there originally on my Samsung S3. It worked long before long before Apple Pay came around. Thank God AP did come though as that just expanded the number of places I use it.
  • >> Google Pay combines features from both Oh, you mean like what they *originally* had with Google Wallet, before splitting in Wallet and Android Pay? So they are just RE-combining then. Whatever the market dynamics -- and I am not sure why people don't agree on what those are -- nothing Google is doing here will change the situation.

A committee takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom. -- Parkinson

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