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Google's payment solutions are shockingly diverse. Google Checkout, Google Wallet, Android Pay, and now Google Pay. Checkout failed so they replaced it with Goo

Google's payment solutions are shockingly diverse. Google Checkout, Google Wallet, Android Pay, and now Google Pay. Checkout failed so they replaced it with Google Wallet; Wallet failed and they replaced it with Android Pay. The Google Pay API developer site https://developers.google.com/payments/ https://developers.google.com/payments/ has the audacity to call it "The newest way to pay with Google." I wouldn't be surprised to see yet another brand (and yet another API) within the next three years.

r00fus 9y ago
This. I mean, it takes lot of effort to keep up with Google's "throw it all on the wall and see what sticks" approach as a user. People chide Apple for not moving fast enough, but in many cases, being stable is more important than refactoring every 2 years.
provost 9y ago
Also, they have had Hangouts, Messenger, Talk, Voice, Allo, and Duo... most with the same functionality. What is up with Google's product management? Is there a strategy?
- joekrill 9y ago
  Then they seem to randomly consolidate (I believe Hangouts was supposed to bring all that together, including SMS), only to do a complete 180 a few months later and split everything up again. I mean it's kind of absurd at this point.
  - ignoramous 9y ago
    I think the hangouts/duo/allo is a one-off, and that was because of Vic Gundotra loosing out?
- mbesto 9y ago
  My understanding is that they effectively let these service duke it out to see which one survives and then choose that one.
  - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
    The problem is, most of these sorts of services work via a network effect. Especially chat: You use the one all your friends are using. Payment is the one that all your accounts and stores you go to support. Running a bunch of your own competitors is self-defeating when it ensures you don't have the network effect. Google Talk worked mostly because it was in Gmail, and everyone had Gmail. People who never used it had it, because Gmail.
  - yupyup 9y ago
    Darwinian Product Strategy? Quick, someone should register it and publish a book and make a career giving talks about it...
  - jaxondu 9y ago
    Feel the same. One example is Angular Typescript and then there is AngularDart, both are used by teams in Google.
  - gedy 9y ago
    Maybe that works for their internal politics, but not for the users. I've given up even trying new Google offerings
    - mbesto 9y ago
      Never said it was a good strategy ;)
- nine_k 9y ago
  Hmm, what? I think e.g. Talk/Hangouts and Voice are radically different: one is about text messaging and video calls, another is about a connection to the "legacy" voice telephony network, with a dial-able number, etc. They started (long ago) form very different areas. They could have a seamless bridge between them, though. They sort of tried: you can dial a phone from Hangouts, but not back, or you can receive your Voice text messages in the email, but not send a reply back (afaict). Google is notoriously bad at cohesive product management. They have a number of bright ideas, but no visionary in the consumer product space, so apparently no coordination.
  - niftich 9y ago
    Google Voice was a rebrand of a product acquired in 2009. Google Talk was an XMPP chat service launched in 2005, and integrated into Gmail in 2006. "+Hangouts" was originally a feature inside Google Plus, launched in 2011, just like "+Messenger". 'Google Hangouts' was a 2013 launch to bring Talk, +Messenger, and +Hangouts into one product. This was further blurred by their various apps, which sometimes had differing functionality from the websites. The latest iteration of Google Voice has chat, for example, while SMS support inside the Hangouts Android App was removed on purpose and users told to use yet another app, first called Messenger, now called Messages. All their communication products suffer from convergent evolution, yet remain in dizzyingly varying states of integration with each other.
    - jyrkesh 9y ago
      I've had a miserable love-hate relationship with Google Voice for years, what do you mean by "the latest iteration of Google Voice has chat?"
      - niftich 9y ago
        Announced in January 2017, the Android, iOS, and Web versions of Google Voice have a revamped UI and, apparently, text chat [1]; discussed on HN at [2]. [1] https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updates-our-google-voice-apps/ https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updat... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13463940 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13463940
- jonny_eh 9y ago
  You forgot Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/ https://meet.google.com/
  - weber111 9y ago
    Thanks for pointing that out! I had no idea it existed.
  - edaemon 9y ago
    Which is also branded as one of "Meet" [1], "Google Meet" [2], or "Hangouts Meet" [3], depending on where you go. [1] https://meet.google.com/ https://meet.google.com/ [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=google+meet https://www.google.com/search?q=google+meet [3] https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1013231476 https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1013231476
  - sorenjan 9y ago
    > Meet doesn't work on your browser > To join the video meeting > Install the current version of Google Chrome Google is the new Microsoft. Also, don't forget Google Spaces. Although you might as well, it lasted less than a year.
  - bradbeattie 9y ago
    And Spaces: https://get.google.com/spaces/ https://get.google.com/spaces/ Oh, that one's already gone. Why on earth would anyone jump on board a new Google product when they have the lifespan of fruit flies?
- rwc 9y ago
  But you forgot Chat! They've held their Slack competitor announced nearly a year ago in EAP so long you wonder if the damn thing will ever see the light of day... https://gsuite.google.com/campaigns/index__chateap.html https://gsuite.google.com/campaigns/index__chateap.html
kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
And there's Tez in India and no one even remembers Handsfree
revelation 9y ago
And it's still only credit cards. Like how many iterations can you possibly have on CC processing. Add debit and then it becomes a lot more useful, but no.
- desas 9y ago
  Odd, are you in the U.S.A? It's not debit card only in the UK.
  - vinay427 9y ago
    I believe GP was saying it was credit card only (no debit cards), or is that what you meant?
    - dbbk 9y ago
      I find it extremely hard to believe that it's credit card only. Debit cards are more popular in the UK.
- criddell 9y ago
  Why would you choose debit over credit? I have a debit and credit card and only use the debit card when I absolutely have to.
  - stephenr 9y ago
    When you have actual money and dont want to pay interest?
    - criddell 9y ago
      If you have money, why aren't you paying your credit card bill on time?
      - Doctor_Fegg 9y ago
        If I have money, why do I need a credit card? I’m guessing you’re American: much of Europe doesn’t bother with credit cards, myself included.
tgb 9y ago
Ars Technica calls this a "merge" of all those payments solutions. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/google-rebrands-all-its-payment-solutions-as-google-pay/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/google-rebrands-all-...
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  Written by a former Android Police writer, yes. It's unsurprising it comes with an optimistic bent.
  - eco 9y ago
    I'm not sure I would characterize it as optimistic. The subtitle is "Fifth Times A Charm!" and the bulk of it is talking about how many times Google has (mostly unsuccessfully) tried to make a product in this space. I find Ron Amadeo's articles are often much more critical of Google than others writing about them. If I were to summarize his attitude in much of his writing it'd be "Come on, you need to do better than this, Google." It's refreshing because normally writers who cover a particular company almost always view them through rose colored glasses and minimize all the mistakes.
    - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
      I have a generally positive view of Ron's work, but there's been some tragic missteps of late. This is a trashfire of a piece justifying incredible incompetence by Google[1], and suggesting a major vulnerability 'isn't a big deal': https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/pixel-wont-get-krack-fix-until-december-but-is-that-really-a-big-deal/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/pixel-wont-get-krack... [1]Google had months of notice under coordinated disclosure, and it took them a couple months after it went public for the fix to finally make it to Pixel devices (which is to say, most other Android devices still aren't patched). Since ROM authors fixed this in like two days, the fact that Google couldn't do it in five months is inexcusable. I actually suspect this may be part of why the Android Security Lead just shifted to a massively less important position at Google around the end of the year.
debt 9y ago
They're all trying to Venmo-ify payments. You run a balance on their platform and just pay with that. Tech companies are trying to become outright banks, but with none of the FDIC insurance or other safeguards that goes along with it lol. Innovation...
- briandear 9y ago
  > They're all trying to Venmo-ify payments. Not all -- Apple Pay doesn't do the balance on their platform thing. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207886 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207886
loeg 9y ago
Huh, I still use wallet for P2P transfers. What do you mean by failed, and is it going away?
nathancahill 9y ago
Not to mention the various payment options for their services, which sometimes integrate with Wallet/Pay and sometimes don't.

r00fus 9y ago

This. I mean, it takes lot of effort to keep up with Google's "throw it all on the wall and see what sticks" approach as a user. People chide Apple for not moving fast enough, but in many cases, being stable is more important than refactoring every 2 years.

provost 9y ago

Also, they have had Hangouts, Messenger, Talk, Voice, Allo, and Duo... most with the same functionality. What is up with Google's product management? Is there a strategy?

joekrill 9y ago
Then they seem to randomly consolidate (I believe Hangouts was supposed to bring all that together, including SMS), only to do a complete 180 a few months later and split everything up again. I mean it's kind of absurd at this point.
- ignoramous 9y ago
  I think the hangouts/duo/allo is a one-off, and that was because of Vic Gundotra loosing out?
mbesto 9y ago
My understanding is that they effectively let these service duke it out to see which one survives and then choose that one.
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  The problem is, most of these sorts of services work via a network effect. Especially chat: You use the one all your friends are using. Payment is the one that all your accounts and stores you go to support. Running a bunch of your own competitors is self-defeating when it ensures you don't have the network effect. Google Talk worked mostly because it was in Gmail, and everyone had Gmail. People who never used it had it, because Gmail.
- yupyup 9y ago
  Darwinian Product Strategy? Quick, someone should register it and publish a book and make a career giving talks about it...
- jaxondu 9y ago
  Feel the same. One example is Angular Typescript and then there is AngularDart, both are used by teams in Google.
- gedy 9y ago
  Maybe that works for their internal politics, but not for the users. I've given up even trying new Google offerings
  - mbesto 9y ago
    Never said it was a good strategy ;)
nine_k 9y ago
Hmm, what? I think e.g. Talk/Hangouts and Voice are radically different: one is about text messaging and video calls, another is about a connection to the "legacy" voice telephony network, with a dial-able number, etc. They started (long ago) form very different areas. They could have a seamless bridge between them, though. They sort of tried: you can dial a phone from Hangouts, but not back, or you can receive your Voice text messages in the email, but not send a reply back (afaict). Google is notoriously bad at cohesive product management. They have a number of bright ideas, but no visionary in the consumer product space, so apparently no coordination.
- niftich 9y ago
  Google Voice was a rebrand of a product acquired in 2009. Google Talk was an XMPP chat service launched in 2005, and integrated into Gmail in 2006. "+Hangouts" was originally a feature inside Google Plus, launched in 2011, just like "+Messenger". 'Google Hangouts' was a 2013 launch to bring Talk, +Messenger, and +Hangouts into one product. This was further blurred by their various apps, which sometimes had differing functionality from the websites. The latest iteration of Google Voice has chat, for example, while SMS support inside the Hangouts Android App was removed on purpose and users told to use yet another app, first called Messenger, now called Messages. All their communication products suffer from convergent evolution, yet remain in dizzyingly varying states of integration with each other.
  - jyrkesh 9y ago
    I've had a miserable love-hate relationship with Google Voice for years, what do you mean by "the latest iteration of Google Voice has chat?"
    - niftich 9y ago
      Announced in January 2017, the Android, iOS, and Web versions of Google Voice have a revamped UI and, apparently, text chat [1]; discussed on HN at [2]. [1] https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updates-our-google-voice-apps/ https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updat... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13463940 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13463940
jonny_eh 9y ago
You forgot Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/ https://meet.google.com/
- weber111 9y ago
  Thanks for pointing that out! I had no idea it existed.
- edaemon 9y ago
  Which is also branded as one of "Meet" [1], "Google Meet" [2], or "Hangouts Meet" [3], depending on where you go. [1] https://meet.google.com/ https://meet.google.com/ [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=google+meet https://www.google.com/search?q=google+meet [3] https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1013231476 https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1013231476
- sorenjan 9y ago
  > Meet doesn't work on your browser > To join the video meeting > Install the current version of Google Chrome Google is the new Microsoft. Also, don't forget Google Spaces. Although you might as well, it lasted less than a year.
- bradbeattie 9y ago
  And Spaces: https://get.google.com/spaces/ https://get.google.com/spaces/ Oh, that one's already gone. Why on earth would anyone jump on board a new Google product when they have the lifespan of fruit flies?
rwc 9y ago
But you forgot Chat! They've held their Slack competitor announced nearly a year ago in EAP so long you wonder if the damn thing will ever see the light of day... https://gsuite.google.com/campaigns/index__chateap.html https://gsuite.google.com/campaigns/index__chateap.html

kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago

And there's Tez in India and no one even remembers Handsfree

revelation 9y ago

And it's still only credit cards. Like how many iterations can you possibly have on CC processing. Add debit and then it becomes a lot more useful, but no.

desas 9y ago
Odd, are you in the U.S.A? It's not debit card only in the UK.
- vinay427 9y ago
  I believe GP was saying it was credit card only (no debit cards), or is that what you meant?
  - dbbk 9y ago
    I find it extremely hard to believe that it's credit card only. Debit cards are more popular in the UK.
criddell 9y ago
Why would you choose debit over credit? I have a debit and credit card and only use the debit card when I absolutely have to.
- stephenr 9y ago
  When you have actual money and dont want to pay interest?
  - criddell 9y ago
    If you have money, why aren't you paying your credit card bill on time?
    - Doctor_Fegg 9y ago
      If I have money, why do I need a credit card? I’m guessing you’re American: much of Europe doesn’t bother with credit cards, myself included.

tgb 9y ago

Ars Technica calls this a "merge" of all those payments solutions. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/google-rebrands-all-its-payment-solutions-as-google-pay/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/google-rebrands-all-...

ocdtrekkie 9y ago
Written by a former Android Police writer, yes. It's unsurprising it comes with an optimistic bent.
- eco 9y ago
  I'm not sure I would characterize it as optimistic. The subtitle is "Fifth Times A Charm!" and the bulk of it is talking about how many times Google has (mostly unsuccessfully) tried to make a product in this space. I find Ron Amadeo's articles are often much more critical of Google than others writing about them. If I were to summarize his attitude in much of his writing it'd be "Come on, you need to do better than this, Google." It's refreshing because normally writers who cover a particular company almost always view them through rose colored glasses and minimize all the mistakes.
  - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
    I have a generally positive view of Ron's work, but there's been some tragic missteps of late. This is a trashfire of a piece justifying incredible incompetence by Google[1], and suggesting a major vulnerability 'isn't a big deal': https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/pixel-wont-get-krack-fix-until-december-but-is-that-really-a-big-deal/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/pixel-wont-get-krack... [1]Google had months of notice under coordinated disclosure, and it took them a couple months after it went public for the fix to finally make it to Pixel devices (which is to say, most other Android devices still aren't patched). Since ROM authors fixed this in like two days, the fact that Google couldn't do it in five months is inexcusable. I actually suspect this may be part of why the Android Security Lead just shifted to a massively less important position at Google around the end of the year.

debt 9y ago

They're all trying to Venmo-ify payments. You run a balance on their platform and just pay with that. Tech companies are trying to become outright banks, but with none of the FDIC insurance or other safeguards that goes along with it lol. Innovation...

briandear 9y ago
> They're all trying to Venmo-ify payments. Not all -- Apple Pay doesn't do the balance on their platform thing. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207886 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207886

loeg 9y ago

Huh, I still use wallet for P2P transfers. What do you mean by failed, and is it going away?

nathancahill 9y ago

Not to mention the various payment options for their services, which sometimes integrate with Wallet/Pay and sometimes don't.