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Google to Pay Carriers to "Prominently" Feature Google Wallet

You'll recall that Google Wallet was blocked by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile as those companies focused on their own mobile payment service (first called ISIS, now called SoftCard). Unfortunately SoftCard and to a lesser degree Google Wallet have struggled to see adoption in the face of Apple's new Apple Pay service. To give Google Wallet a leg up, reports suggested Google was considering buying SoftCard.

A new Wall Street Journal report suggests that to try and give Google Wallet a leg up, the company is not only planning on buying SoftCard, but will potentially pay carriers to display Google Wallet "prominently" on the wide variety of Android phones now in the wild:
quote:
The three wireless carriers are more willing to work with Google these days, because they get no revenue from Apple Pay, the people familiar with the matter say. Mr. Freed-Finnegan said that’s created an incentive for Google and the carriers to cooperate. “Certainly Apple isn’t working with the carriers,” he said...In talks with the carriers, Google is offering to pay them to feature Wallet prominently on their Android phones and is dangling the promise of more revenue from advertising tied to Google searches made on the phones, according to the people familiar with the matter.
A revived Google Wallet is expected to be revealed at Google's developer conference in May.
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itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

So Wait

The carriers get a taste of ad revenue from Google searches on my Android phone? Seriously?

They need to pile some work into Google Wallet as it's a steaming pile on my Galaxy S5.

ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium Member
join:2005-03-14
Woodstock, CT

ptrowski

Premium Member

Re: So Wait

Could you expand? On my Note 4 I have not had any issues.
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

Re: So Wait

Sure...

I have my loyalty cards in it as well. It's great that they pop up while I'm at the store and are accessible from the notification area for scanning. However they randomly go away. When you go into Wallet they are a PITA to get to easily, hidden in a menu option. It knows I'm at that store, why not have that be the 1st thing when you go into Wallet while you are at the store.

Managing credit cards tied to Google Wallet is a mess and very hard to do on the fly.

Overall responsiveness could be better when doing NFC payments although that may be a hardware of NFC thing.

Returns go back to a Google Wallet balance instead of the card used.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

Re: So Wait

said by itguy05:

However they randomly go away

Mine stay up until I am about 2 miles away, or until I swipe them away. I work at a walgreens, my balance rewards card is up all night on my phone unless I swipe it way, and it comes back every 4 hours.
said by itguy05:

When you go into Wallet they are a PITA to get to easily, hidden in a menu option.

Pretty sure its not "hidden". You hit the menu icon on the top left of the app, hit the "loyalty and gift cards" line, and there they all are. If you have more than 5, it would scroll off screen, but I think they are all kept in alphabetical order.
said by itguy05:

Managing credit cards tied to Google Wallet is a mess and very hard to do on the fly.

I dunno why you had so many issues. I just added and delete a card last week. Took me less than 30 seconds to add it, and less than 30 seconds to delete it. to select a different card, simply go to the my wallet, and tap the "tap and pay ready: cardbrand0000" icon and pick a different card to charge it too. You can even chance what card a transaction gets charged to as long as it has not cleared in the transaction history page.
said by itguy05:

Overall responsiveness could be better when doing NFC payments although that may be a hardware of NFC thing.

This is more or less a retailer hardware issue. They have their terminal power outputs way lower so the devices only work from about an inch or less. Sometimes they are hard to get it to pick up, or are disabled entirely(wal-mart, im looking at you here!) because companies don't understand the tech, and people working in IT and security don't understand it either, and simply fear it as an attack vector into their POS terminals. I still get strange looks using it to pay for stuff. Its availability is much better than it was 2 years ago, but people still don't know what it is, and having it called "apple pay" by a cashier when I am clearly not holding an Iphone makes me kind of mad.
said by itguy05:

Returns go back to a Google Wallet balance instead of the card used.

I have not experienced this one myself, as the 2 returns I did went back onto my card. Google even says they will go back onto the card used to pay unless they cannot match it to a card on your account, or an error occurs.

Wallet Card returns will be refunded to your Wallet Balance, and tap and pay returns will go to the funding source used at the time of purchase. Note that it may take up to 5 days for the return transaction to appear on the statement of your funding source.

If the return isn't reflected in your original form of payment's statement, please check the statements for all the funding sources in your Google Wallet. In rare cases we may be unable to match the return to the original transaction, and the return amount will be posted to the card that was most recently used in your Wallet app or your Wallet Balance.

itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

Re: So Wait

said by Chubbysumo:

Mine stay up until I am about 2 miles away, or until I swipe them away. I work at a walgreens, my balance rewards card is up all night on my phone unless I swipe it way, and it comes back every 4 hours.

Interesting. I was in Wegman's last night (grocery chain) and it popped up in my notification area and by the time I got to the checkout it was not there. Ended up pulling out the key fob vs taking the time to deal with Wallet.
quote:
Pretty sure its not "hidden". You hit the menu icon on the top left of the app, hit the "loyalty and gift cards" line, and there they all are. If you have more than 5, it would scroll off screen, but I think they are all kept in alphabetical order.
Yes, but it already knows what store I'm in so why is it not front and center. Or if I'm near a few stores (like, say a strip mall), give me a few choices from the main screen.

When I'm in a checkout line, tapping around to find something is "hidden", especially when the app knows where I am!
quote:
Its availability is much better than it was 2 years ago, but people still don't know what it is, and having it called "apple pay" by a cashier when I am clearly not holding an Iphone makes me kind of mad.
My next phone will have Apple Pay so it doesn't bother me in the least bit.
quote:
I have not experienced this one myself, as the 2 returns I did went back onto my card. Google even says they will go back onto the card used to pay unless they cannot match it to a card on your account, or an error occurs.
Interesting, cause at Home Depot, with my Discover card the return certainly didn't go back to Discover and I was able to transfer that balance to my bank account and then pay Discover.

Don't know what the issues were/are for me but this is the sort of thing that Apple gets mostly right while Google gets mostly wrong!

I'm still waiting for integration for anything with the fingerprint sensor of the GS5....

grydlok
join:2004-01-06
Richmond, VA

grydlok

Member

Re: So Wait

I don't know why you are having those issues but just like the other I don't have those issues.
GLIMMER
join:2004-01-17
Fisher, IL

GLIMMER to itguy05

Member

to itguy05
the fingerprint scanner on the s5 is junk thats why they really didnt do much with it. The nexus 6 was suppose to have the same fingerprint scanner as the iphone till apple bought the company.
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

Re: So Wait

quote:
the fingerprint scanner on the s5 is junk thats why they really didnt do much with it. The nexus 6 was suppose to have the same fingerprint scanner as the iphone till apple bought the company.
It actually does work pretty well for me. Nowhere near as good as an iPhone but close enough for me.

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

chip89 to itguy05

Premium Member

to itguy05
So you want to work like passbook does on my IPhone I get close to a Starbucks and it shows up on my lock screen until I leave the area.

ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium Member
join:2005-03-14
Woodstock, CT

ptrowski

Premium Member

Re: So Wait

That is what happens currently on my Note 4. I go near RiteAid, my card shows up in the notifications section.
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

Re: So Wait

quote:
That is what happens currently on my Note 4. I go near RiteAid, my card shows up in the notifications section.
Mine will too but more often than not it will go away well before I leave the store. Happened last night in the grocery store.

ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium Member
join:2005-03-14
Woodstock, CT

ptrowski to itguy05

Premium Member

to itguy05
Interesting....

»www.cnet.com/news/google ··· payment/

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven to ptrowski

Member

to ptrowski
Same with my Note II with DN3v5.2. No issues at all.
GLIMMER
join:2004-01-17
Fisher, IL

GLIMMER to itguy05

Member

to itguy05
said by itguy05:

The carriers get a taste of ad revenue from Google searches on my Android phone? Seriously?

They need to pile some work into Google Wallet as it's a steaming pile on my Galaxy S5.

The s5 was the worst phone samsung ever made in galaxy s line. The phone is just slow and clunky. I dont blame wallet on that one
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

Softcard is worthless......

....until it adds a lot more cards. It works with so few that it is useless to me.

carpetshark3
Premium Member
join:2004-02-12
Idledale, CO

carpetshark3

Premium Member

Re: Softcard is worthless......

How will they do it? I have a BYOD phone, not carrier's.

firephoto
Truth and reality matters
Premium Member
join:2003-03-18
Brewster, WA

firephoto to moonpuppy

Premium Member

to moonpuppy
said by moonpuppy:

....until it adds a lot more cards. It works with so few that it is useless to me.

Maybe there is a reason that softcard, aka Gemalto, aka had SIM card encryption keys "stolen" by the NSA and GCHQ, only uses certain payment methods.

ieolus
Support The Clecs
join:2001-06-19
Danbury, CT

ieolus

Member

because they get no revenue from Apple Pay

... and why exactly should they get revenue from these transactions?

Does Comcast get revenue when I buy something from eBay? Hell no, and they shouldn't.

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

chip89

Premium Member

Re: because they get no revenue from Apple Pay

Yes they do you pay them for that connection to EBay when you buy something.

ieolus
Support The Clecs
join:2001-06-19
Danbury, CT

ieolus

Member

Re: because they get no revenue from Apple Pay

No, I pay them for that connection. Full stop. They don't get a piece of any transaction I happen to make on that connection.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

Google Wallet lets you add any card from any issuer where ApplePay requires the bank to support it. I was able to add my Berkshire Bank MasterCard Debit Card to Google Wallet where ApplePay required me to get a checking account at TD Bank. But Google Wallet won't work at some vending machines with NFC readers as they don't take MasterCard Debit so I have to pull out ApplePay which has my TD Bank Visa Debit card. I have my TD Bank Visa Debit linked to both Google Wallet and ApplePay and I mainly use Berkshire Bank to pay the rent as the landlord sits on the rent checks before cashing them.

Google Wallet and ApplePay both have their advantages and disadvantages.

PhoenixDown
FIOS is Awesome
Premium Member
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY

PhoenixDown

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

Isn't that because Apple Pay uses tokenization instead of transmitting your card #'s to the merchant?

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA

fuziwuzi

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

Google Wallet doesn't transmit your card #s to the merchant, either. It uses a "virtual Mastercard", not your personal card.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

Hmm. Automatically creates a virtual card?

That's actually interesting. Still don't want to give Google my credit card number, but that's interesting.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

I've used G Wallet since the nexus s and it has never transmitted your actual card number... Everything goes thru Google first. Kind of like a PayPal credit card payment.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

So, I guess the question I gotta ask myself is--who do I trust with my credit card number? Google? Paypal? Or the random merchant... bearing in mind I can generate virtual cards on demand myself... hmmmm

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

I personally have used it since 2011ish and haven't had any issues. I've also just used it as a novelty though.

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA
Hitron EN2251
Nest H2D

fuziwuzi to sivran

Premium Member

to sivran
said by sivran:

So, I guess the question I gotta ask myself is--who do I trust with my credit card number? Google? Paypal? Or the random merchant... bearing in mind I can generate virtual cards on demand myself... hmmmm

At some point you must trust somebody, or else just be a Luddite and pay cash in person for everything. Sure, if you use a particular credit card company or product you might be able to generate virtual cards, but can you do it on demand and as quickly and efficiently as Google Wallet does? I've noticed that the "virtual Mastercard" number changes with every transaction I've made, so Google is doing it on-the-fly. I would not be able to manually do that so easily. The NFC in my phone makes it amazingly easy to use and as secure as I want it to be (I can lock it down as I see fit).

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

And the NFC readers can be a pain in the butt sometimes. There is a particular model of payment terminal (the ones at Walgreens and the ones at Staples) that is almost impossible to get ApplePay to work on even with the thinnest of a case. I just put a Mophie Juice Pack on my iPhone 6 plus and it works fine on vending machines and the VeriFone terminals but the ones I mentioned is impossible to get to read.

Read: it's not the Mophie case, I've had problems with that make of payment terminal even with Apple branded cases that are razor thin. I found that if I hold the phone sideways it works better.

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA
Hitron EN2251
Nest H2D

fuziwuzi

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

The NFC in my HTC One M8, with a Dot View case, seems to work everywhere I've tried without any issue. Except for the stupidity of CVS which blocks NFC payments from all devices even though they have working terminals. I've used my phone at Walgreens, Panera, Office Depot and many other places.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: Google Wallet has an advantage over ApplePay

And CVS lost my business to Walgreens over their blocking of NFC and ApplePay. Vote with my wallet (iPhone).

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran to fuziwuzi

Premium Member

to fuziwuzi
True, but Google already knows enough about me. Do they really need to know my purchasing habits online and off?

Then again, my phone is Android, so they already know where I go anyway...

Mark_Venture
join:2000-05-31
Coatesville, PA

Mark_Venture

Member

Google should advertise wallet instead...

Google should have taken out ads on TV, Magazines, etc.. for Google Wallet. Few know it actually exists.

Even before Apple Pay, I was using Google Wallet on my 2013 Moto X. People in stores were amazed by it, and asked how I did that.

Today when I check out, people in stores ask me how I got Apple Pay working on an android device. I have to explain its Google Wallet, its been around for a while, etc..
LeslieHarney
join:2000-04-30
Brooklyn, NY

2 edits

LeslieHarney

Member

did someone day ISIS ?

(first called ISIS, now called SoftCard)

I wonder why they changed there name. I don't get it ( hand on chin ).
Maybe this has something to do with it:

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· akwhdaU4


Guess they didn't want any unannounced visitors coming in with a bang.
smk11
join:2014-11-12

smk11

Member

Pay to play....

What could go wrong?