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Google Shutting Down Wallet Card
- blakesterz 11y agohmm, not even sure what that was. I know this sounds like sour grapes complaining so feel free to read it in Verruca Salt's voice if you want... This is why I am scared to try anything new from Google. I know why they do it, I know how they do things, I totally get it, but it does not make it better. I know they like trying new things. I know they're not afraid to get rid of things that aren't performing like they want. But as a little guy, just part of the big group of users they monetize every day, I can't ever use anything new from them because I'm just afraid it will be gone in a year or two. I don't expect them to keep every damn thing running forever, I really get that they can't, but they seem over eager to shut things down, even if they seem to be used by no small number of people. e.g. Google Keep. Tried, loved it, never used it again. I'm still afraid it'll die any day now. /Verucca
- gkoberger 11y ago'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
- hobs 11y agoCompletely wrong when it comes to adopting new technologies unless you are a real youngster. My debit/credit card pairing hasn't been cancelled or changed in the 10 years I have had it unless I have specifically engineered that change. The reality is that you just shouldn't trust google for anything that appears long term, and consider them as a casual partner, not a long term relationship.
- lern_too_spel 11y agoRelative to all the startups that compete with them, Google and Microsoft products are much safer to rely on. They will at least give you a migration path and a generous time allowance for that migration. Most of the startups who shut down their services do so with with no notice.
- hobs 11y agoAnd relative to a bank, which is what I was comparing them to, they are canceling things at a very very rapid pace. I am perfectly fine with people saying that Google, a multi-billion dollar corporation, cancels things less often than a company with a completely uncertain future and no profit. I am also fine with saying that comparison is not fair to the startups or to business that try to deliver a faithful product to their customers.
- superkamiguru 11y agoit was a round about way to resolve the issue that google wallet/android pay wasn't accepted at many places. The solution is about as dumb as it sounds. I liked it because it was a really quick and easy debit card essentially. So I would use it at places I didn't trust since I could limit the amount on the card.
- onetimePete 11y agoIt would be great if they at least open sourced failed experiments.
- eknkc 11y agoMight be really hard due to closed source / licensed components and google infrastructure dependant architecture.
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoThat just seems like bad design on their part. In the past, Google leaned towards open source by default, and then kept just some of the secret sauce to their services proprietary, now it seems that their proprietary services is the bulk of what they produce. Perhaps they need to unbundle. Google Wave works great today on self-hosted platforms.
- JBReefer 11y agoI've heard from people inside that the quality of their codebase has gone down, and thus they can no longer just upload stuff without a refactoring.
- onetimePete 11y agoAll codebases are horrible after some years- that is the result of "please invest not time into this done project"- hotbugfixes piling to spots where they don't belong. The existence of this architecture corrosion is not something to be ashamed off. And everyone who reads in, can do so while refactoring those "if (input(isExoticEdgeCase)){...}" into some Filterclass of there own. My assumption is, that often management is in fear of being proven wrong, by some project coming alive. "This Project is not profitable, lets open source it." is a statement that can haunt you, if that very project comes alive and walks the earth for years to come. Coders and management united in fear of public embarrassment.
- yohui 11y ago
- jonesb6 11y agoI wonder how the engineers on these projects feel. To work really hard on something just to have it thrown out due to "business reasons". Must suck.
- nommm-nommm 11y agoI've been on a couple projects that got the axe. Doesn't bother me, I still got paid.
- grahamburger 11y agoSeems like most of the projects that get the axe have been neglected for a while first. Probably no one is really pouring their heart in to these things enough to be too upset.
- knicholes 11y agoEvery project I've touched has withered and has been cancelled (except for one, but it has only been out for a year). I'm convinced that it's my super power.
- kyrra 11y agoGoogle keep just got its iOS client this past fall. As far as I can tell, they keep adding small improvements to it. The nice thing with most Google apps is that you can get your data out easily with Takeout: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2015/08/export-all-your-google-keep-notes.html http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2015/08/export-all-your-goo...
- duaneb 11y agoUnrelated to article, but keep really is awesome. I use the iOS app every day.
- tdeck 11y agoInteresting to see Google Keep brought up as an example, since Google summarily killed Notebook [1], which I used, and which seemed similar in many ways. [1] Google Notebook: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Notebook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Notebook
- Reedx 11y agoDo Google products have a higher closure rate than products in general? (I'm genuinely curious) If not, then do you have the same fear of any new product from any company? That risk is there too...
- blakesterz 11y agoThat's a couple of really good questions. Another reason I feel bad complaining at all.
- wyldfire 11y agoMy wife doesn't know about Google's reputation for shutting down services like this. But when I tried to convince her to use "Project Fi" she refused. She thinks "Project" sounds as if it's an experiment. Tsk, she's probably more right than she knows. But I really wanted to try it out anyways -- with number portability there's just not that much risk.
- Animats 11y agoThen there are the "lingering death" products, such as Google Voice. Google bought that from Grand Central in 2009, and it's still basically Grand Central. There's a running joke about Google Voice acquiring an API that's been in a bug report for five years now. I think there's a phone interface feature associated with Google Hangouts. ("Google Hangups?") But it probably requires that everyone you talk to have a Google account. All these little closed-world communications systems are a pain.
- yohui 11y agoI think the Hangouts Dialer does use my Google Voice number. Google Voice voicemails also show up in Hangouts now, instead of the Google Voice app. Also, doesn't Project Fi use Google Voice numbers? And the recent Google Fiber home phone service? The dedicated Google Voice app has withered, but Google seems to be integrating the service into their other projects.
- magicalist 11y ago> I think there's a phone interface feature associated with Google Hangouts. But it probably requires that everyone you talk to have a Google account. Er, it's a phone interface. It makes phone calls. Everyone you talk to is only required to have a phone number.
- bduerst 11y agoHangouts absorbed Google Voice: "Hangouts remains the future of Google Voice, so we’re going to keep bringing the most-loved Google Voice features into the core Hangouts experience,"
- kilroy123 11y agoGod I really hope they don't kill off Google Voice, I use it daily!
- hinkley 11y agoYou know, back in the old Embrace Extend Extinguish days, I used to think Microsoft should just cancel old products they obviously don't give a shit about. I hated that they sucked the oxygen out of the room by continuing to half-ass it for years and years. Now we have Google, that's almost as big but not as contentious, and they're canceling things left and right, and that's causing problems too. So now I'm not sure what my position is on the topic.
- kaeawc 11y agoI am sad about this. I've used the card since it came out years ago. Reloading, paying, canceling, renewing, locking were all so super easy. Only reason I didn't switch to Simple was because of the existence of Google Wallet + card, guess I'll be looking into that now.
- fluxquanta 11y agoAnecdotal, but I've used Simple for almost two years and while the mobile app really is great, the biggest benefit I've gotten out of it is the "Goals" feature. Surely there are other budgeting systems out there that do the same thing (be they software like YNAB or just being better with money in general), in my case having it all integrated with my bank really changed my spending habits and as a result I've paid off all of my revolving credit card debt and I am now a much more responsible spender.
- barlo 11y agoSimple has been fantastic for me the past two years or so; give them a shot.
- fizzbatter 11y agoI'm going to try them out, appreciate the insight from you guys!
- ssully 11y agoI'll vouche for Simple. Their app and Goals feature are great, but the thing I love is the real time purchase notifications. It's kind of amazing to me that no bank (that I have used yet) have apps with this functionality. It's incredibly comforting to get a notification everytime I buy something. It also helped me identify falsified purchases the moment they happened, which enabled me to put a hold on my card and file a report of the incident within minutes (and all through the phone app!). I really hate gushing about products and services on public forums, but Simple deserves it.
- dmd 11y ago
- mchahn 11y agoThis makes it obvious how successful the Wallet Card was, I wonder how well Google Pay is doing. I would not have even heard about Google pay if I wasn't on HN, and I have used Android from the beginning.
- mpg33 11y agoI think a lot of banks are reluctant to let google and apple in on transaction fees so they are reluctant to help make it successful.
- curt15 11y agoWhile Apple Pay adds dozens of banks each month, the list of Android Pay participating banks seems to have barely budged since the beginning (https://support.google.com/androidpay/answer/6314169?hl=en https://support.google.com/androidpay/answer/6314169?hl=en). In particular, Chase still doesn't work with Android Pay.
- grahamburger 11y agoHonest question, I must be missing something here - Why does your bank need to participate? I just add the card number from any credit or debit card and tap to pay just works. I don't use any of the banks on the supported list. EDIT: Taking a stab at answering my own question - it looks like you can only set up ACH drafts from the list of supported banks, but as far as I can tell you can use any major credit card to fund purchases. EDIT AGAIN: As pointed out below, this only works for me because I added these cards in to the old app and they were grandfathered in.
- mplewis 11y agoAre you talking about Android Pay, or Samsung Pay?
- grahamburger 11y agoAndroid Pay
- grahamburger 11y agoThis is the first of Google's product cancellations that will affect me personally. My wife and I have been using Google Wallet cards for budgeting - we transfer our spending money to the cards each week to help track our spending. Honestly there's no reason Google Wallet was superior for this - I expect Simple will solve our problems better anyway. Should have seen this coming when they split it off of Android Pay.
- noobiemcfoob 11y ago+1 for Simple!
- wyldfire 11y agoTell me more: what's this service about?
- tekromancr 11y agoIt's a bank that only lives on the internet. I am actually surprisingly happy with them as my only bank.
- spyspy 11y agoHaving been a customer of Charles Schwab for several years at this point, I've never seen the appeal of Simple. I get better interest rates, fantastic customer service, unlimited ATM rebates and a host of brokerage services, all for free.
- CobrastanJorji 11y agoFellow Schwab customer here. Unlimited ATM rebates has been great. I was surprised at bow nice it felt to whip out my Schwab card next to the scary little free-standing ATM machine at the cash-only shop with some ridiculous $4.00 ATM fee. Felt like a cheat code.
- cakes 11y agoThis really is too bad, was convenient at some points for me. Any good suggestions that are of the similar load-and-use-as-needed variety?
- grahamburger 11y agoIf you're using a Wallet card now you should get an email about this from Google. They have two cards they suggest moving to, Simple and one from Amex. Looks like they're both giving $20 to users who migrate from Google Wallet.
- c3t0 11y agoAMEX requires 3 direct deposits of $500 or more. Simple does not seem to have that condition.
- onetimePete 11y agoWait a second, you got to announce it first before you can it. Chronological order has to prevail, else no rollback is possible. Whatever it was they canned.
- dogma1138 11y agoAm I the only one who hears about like 75% of Google's products for the first time only when they issue EOL/EOS notices?
- Animats 11y agoThat's been my experience too. Google discontinuation notices come up on YC regularly, and I've heard of maybe half the products. The other half I've heard bad things about. Except Google Code Search. I liked Google Code Search. But there's no useful way to hang ads on it. They could have used it for recruiting. People doing searches for code in difficult areas might be worth talking to. Google has tried that. At one time, if you searched for "proof of correctness", you got a Google recruiting ad. I was once contacted because I posted something in comp.lang.c++. (Unfortunately the person who contacted me was so clueless I told him to put me on their do-not-call list.)
- chipperyman573 11y agoI've never heard of google code search, but based on what it sounds like it is, http://symbolhound.com http://symbolhound.com might be an alternative.
- Animats 11y agoGoogle Code Search: 2006-2013.[1] It was from the era when Google claimed their mission was to organize all the world's information, and they had book-scanning and newspaper-scanning projects. But that content generated no ad revenue. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code_Search https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code_Search
- jve 11y agoWhy do you say: had? They still have: - https://www.google.com/googlebooks/library/ https://www.google.com/googlebooks/library/ - https://support.google.com/books/partner/faq/3396243?hl=en&rd=1#43744 https://support.google.com/books/partner/faq/3396243?hl=en&r...
- wnevets 11y agoI use my wallet card all the time, its is kinda annoying.
- dmd 11y agoI feel like at this point there should just be a form letter for Google retiring services. Dear users, [ ]MAJOR [ ] MINOR Google service which you [ ] DEPENDED ON TO DO YOUR JOB [ ] BUILT MAJOR PARTS OF YOUR WORKFLOW ON [ ] LIKED A LOT [ ] HAD BEEN MEANING TO TRY OUT, DAMMIT [ ] HAVE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF will be discontinued [ ] LITERALLY TOMORROW [ ] IN SIX MONTHS, AND YOU CAN EXPORT YOUR DATA BUT IT'S IN SOME COMBINATION JSON+XML FORMAT WHICH THE DEVELOPERS THINK IS TOTALLY HIP BUT PROBABLY YOU SHOULD JUST WAIT FOR SOMEONE HIPPER THAN YOU TO WRITE A LIBRARY TO PARSE IT [ ] AND AUTO-MIGRATED TO A SERVICE YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO USE Thanks for your support. Please try out NEW PRODUCT THAT WE ARE INTRODUCING TOMORROW AND SUNSETTING [ ] WHO KNOWS HAHAHAHA See you at http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/ http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/ ! Love, Google.
- dheera 11y agoThe Wallet Card was invented for places that don't take Android Pay, to pay in the form of a regular credit/debit card. Unfortunately, this is useless because it is the same level of (in)convenience as a credit card, and doesn't offer the 2-5% cashback that all the other cards I have do. Even if a store accepted NFC-based Android Pay, I'd probably still opt to pull out my plastic card for the cashback and consumer protection. Google/Apple Pay need to find a way to weave benefits into their systems if they want to win the market.
- abritishguy 11y agoYou can add you American Express (or whatever) card to Apple Pay, the protection and points are not in the plastic.
- terinjokes 11y agoAdd you rewards card to Android Pay, tap at the NFC terminal, get your rewards like normal. Of course that means your bank supports Android Pay, but that's really the standard hit-or-miss technology adoption that banks are slow at anyways.
- seanp2k2 11y agoWhere are you getting 5% cash back? Highest I've seen is Chase Sapphire with their points which are worth 2-3%. Highest straight cash back I've seen is Citi DoubleCash at 2%.
- LaMarseillaise 11y agoI literally just ordered the card a few days ago. It has not even arrived yet (estimated delivery was between March 29 and April 3). I was eagerly awaiting the card, looking forward to using it for budgeting and mobile payments. Now I will just have to figure out something else.
- synunlimited 11y agoOne of my favorite things about the Wallet Card was the design. Having a clean front that always surprised people that haven't seen one before. I'd always get comments on it and asked if I worked at Google haha RIP YetAnotherGoogleService
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoIt was the first time I saw one like this, but not the last. Citi has a flavor of card designed like this now, only thing on the front is the EMV chip and the logo.
- snuxoll 11y agoDiscover has been doing this for a long time too.
- yohui 11y agoIt was beautiful, alright: http://s3.amazonaws.com/digitaltrends-uploads-prod/2013/12/google-wallet-card.jpg http://s3.amazonaws.com/digitaltrends-uploads-prod/2013/12/g...
- achalkley 11y agoI just got mine in the post the other week. Great news! /s
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoI got one when they came out. Then I found out I had to load it manually like a debit card, and I never ever used it, even once. It's around my house somewhere. I won't miss it.
- _vn5r 11y agoAnd just yesterday I was trying to get one :)
- cmurf 11y agoA bit off topic but is anyone annoyed with how cards with RF are being replaced with a chip card? I don't know why card issuers are doing that. Mobile devices increasingly have NFC for contactless payment, so why would the card issuers roll that back in favor of chip only?
- botterworkshop 11y agoIn an attempt to corner market or security, possibly both?
- dashoffset 11y agoGoogle Reader thought me long ago not to depend or invest much time on Google services. Nowadays the only product that would cause me a huge problem if they decide to cancel it is Gmail.
- dmxt 11y agoHonestly, I don't think they'll ever cancel Gmail. Or maybe they'll cancel Gmail so users will transfer to (ew) Google Inbox. I sure hope not.
- Spooky23 11y agoYou're safe there. Imagine the day when Google migrated itself to O365. I can't either.
- danieldk 11y agoUnlikely. Though I could see them disabling IMAP and/or SMTP for consumer GMail.
- rurban 11y agoHardly. They'd rather cancel POP first. A long-term IMAP storage is legally needed for the spooks to read your email in real-time. With POP they don't have the legal excuses, so they cannot read it. Only what's left over there.
- danieldk 11y agoA long-term IMAP storage is legally needed for the spooks to read your email in real-time. There is an API for that: https://developers.google.com/gmail/api/guides/push#stopping_mailbox_updates https://developers.google.com/gmail/api/guides/push#stopping...
- dewiz 11y agooh come on! it was working so well, I'm so tired of this company cancelling services. If MS made EEE an entry in Wikipedia [1], we need to coin one for Google... 1. Experiment, Excite, Evaporate ? 2. Google SDLC: PoC, Beta, Retire ? "Google it" starts to sounds like "Kill it" [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish
- exabrial 11y agoSad to see this go, had a lot of potential!
- CullingTheHerd 11y agoI think there is a dynamic being left out of the conversation here (and do please correct me if this has been brought already). There is certainly a story in that "yet another Google service is being shut down." But, let's rewind a bit. All these services that Google has or will eventually shut down were at one time at the "go/no go" stage. When Google was still a start-up that "go/no go" decision might be based off of resources or a particular group of programmers passion. Now a mature company, this decision is generally made based on calculations as to how a particular project will fit into the overall portfolio and impact the bottom line. Some projects, no matter how much a passionate group of programmers might lobby, may never get off the ground because there isn't a sufficient argument in terms of the larger picture. But, and here I finally get to my point, some projects are surely proposed purely to protect the bottom line from competitors or to hedge against changes in the marketplace; i.e. Google+ was purely to protect against the trend of Facebook becoming a growing percentage of a user's on-line experience and walling off content to Google's search engine. Another example, still unfolding, is that of their Nest acquisition. And this is where the real damage gets done. Google sees the growth of the IOT market, and so acquires Nest so as to get a foothold into that market. Now both Google+ and Nest are dying horrible, slow, shot in the stomach movie deaths, and everyone is forced to watch. What could have been accomplished by the engineers working on these projects if their primary goal was to serve a remote master, the bottom line of Alphabet? Perhaps, if these two products where not born out of a proxy war to buttress the revenue of Google Search, perhaps we all could have seen great things born out of their endeavors. Instead, having served their purpose, the fiscal responsibility due to the shareholders of Alphabet having been fulfilled, the Alphabet PR machine gently asks that we look away, and look to their next amazing product.
- mugatuq 11y agoApril fools! Oh wait...
- amelius 11y agoI'm not sure if I liked data-harvesting combined with my finances anyway.
- talles 11y ago> We’re focused on making it easier than ever to send and receive money with Google Wallet. Keep an eye out for new features and a fresh design in the coming months. Who's gonna "keep an eye out" for "new features and a fresh design" after they discontinue the thing? What about keeping the existing service working for this "coming months"?
- YesThatTom2 11y agoI never used the product because I assumed this was a work-around until they could get credit card companies on board and such.