Close-up of logo for Google Pay, listing approved credit cards, on store window in San Ramon, ... [+]
TechCrunch has obtained images from Google about the soon-to-be-released Google Card, a virtual and physical debit card, launched under co-branding with a number of banks, and very similar to Apple’s, which was launched just over a year ago.
For the time being, Google Pay will only allow online payments and between individuals by connecting a traditional payment card: Google’s own card would be able to expand enormously use of the application, and likely position Google as a giant within the fast-growing fintech sector.
Technology companies have been thinking about electronic payments for a long time: the mechanics are increasingly under the control of companies specializing in technological development, rather than under the umbrella of banks whose evolution continues to lag far behind the uses and customs of an ever-bigger part of society. In many ways, technology companies are setting the trends, while the banks are limited to trying to adapt to them, in many cases with a considerable delay.
The augmented reality concept developed by Volodymyr Kurbatov around the Apple Card is a good example of this:
Looking to the post-pandemic future, one in which an increasing number of people and establishments will undoubtedly refuse to pay in cash because they consider coins and notes to be a possible vehicles for transmitting COVID-19 and other likely viruses, positioning in the field of electronic payments is becoming highly strategic: it is undoubtedly the ideal time to obtain a central place in users’ habits and preferences. Some voices, in fact, are advocating the development of a public payment system in the style of the popular Venmo, owned by PayPal, which is very popular in the United States, or others such as Zelle, Swish, M-pesa, etc.
A post-pandemic scenario in which cash will surely be our second choice is an opportunity to shape the adoption of new habits, building on large-scale experiments such as the one that’s been underway in Sweden for some time. Tech giants such as Apple, Google, or Amazon with its cashless stores are set to become important players in an attractive scenario that is enormously relevant in terms of generating information and that offers many opportunities for reinvention.
For an increasingly commoditized banking sector, this will be an extremely difficult challenge.
