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Google Wallet Card
- smallegan 13y agoIt is extremely generous of Google to offer to track all of my purchase history for free.
- garthdog 13y agoSo much more evil than what CC companies already do today, amirite?
- bdcravens 13y agoYes. CC companies are their own silo. Google aggregates data across multiple sources, and you can be certain that you'll start seeing ads related to purchases you've already made in meatspace.
- selectout 13y agoWhile true, CC companies sell our data to other aggregators. So it's just adding in profit to a middleman while google is doing it themselves.
- bnegreve 13y agoIs that true? It sounds like a crazy privacy issue, so I would be surprised. But maybe I am too naive.
- myko 13y agoOh nice, so the ads will be for things I'm actually likely to be interested in instead of random things I don't and will never care about?
- rebel 13y agoThe same argument could be made for an advertiser peeking into your windows at night and watching you in your spare time. Eventually you have to draw the line.
- myko 13y agoOnly if said advertiser is also my butler, cleaning my windows and waiting on me hand and foot. This is a terrible analogy.
- toggle 13y agoYes, considering that CC companies have that information by the nature of the service they provide to you, their customer. On the other hand, Google seems to be expanding into more services to hungrily learn more about you and then provide than information to their real customers, the advertisers. Edit: I should mention that I know that credit card companies sell data to third parties. But they don't exist only for that purpose, like Google nowadays. Thus, people are understandably less comfortable with Google knowing things.
- smallegan 13y agoOne could argue that the credit card companies are more entitled to my purchase history as they are the ones providing the line of credit. Google is simply doing a user allowed MITM "attack" in this case.
- chadwickthebold 13y agoHuh. Could someone point out how this is different from Coin? On first flush it seems like it will have an easier roll out time, but I can see how privacy conscious people will be wary of it. Edit- and I mean different from Coin in a use case kind of way. I realize that Coin does stuff with the magnetic strip directly whereas this is just another card that is linked on the net to all of your other cards.
- generalpf 13y agoThis one doesn't seem to be linked to your other cards, just your Google Wallet balance, which can possibly deduct money from a linked card? In any case, big whoop.
- dotBen 13y agoUPDATE: Apparently folks are saying this is NOT how it works, although I read a write up that indicated this was how it works. I'm leaving the original below anyway... I believe it is linked. The idea is that you'll tell the app you want to pay with your Amex. You hand the Google Wallet Card to the retailer/waiter/etc and when they run the card it will be piggy-back-charged to your Amex by Google. The difference to Coin is the switching to your "real" card is done in the datacenter not on the card itself via the mag strip. And when the world evolves to contactless payments as the norm, you've already been trained to use the Google Wallet App (which supports that), whereas Coin will be obsolete. Google is playing the long game.
- untog 13y agoI don't understand how that could be worth it for Google, though. Amex processing charges are higher than Mastercard (AFAIK) so if I pair my Amex to my Google Wallet card, aren't they going to end up paying processing charges the store would normally pay?
- rohansingh 13y agoThat's not the case. Read the documentation on the site: > The Google Wallet Card is funded by your Wallet Balance. Money is added to your Wallet Balance either by someone sending you money via Wallet or Gmail or by adding it yourself from a linked bank account or from a credit or debit card. The card has no fees to order and activate. There are no annual or monthly fees for the Google Wallet Card.
- potyl 13y agoIs this USA only? None of my European devices are eligible through the Play Store for an install.
- Gurrewe 13y agoSadyly, yes. "Google Wallet Card is only available to US residents."
- onehp 13y agoIt's getting pretty infuriating the direction they seem to be taking on this. I would gladly be using the wallet app without a card, KitKat on my Nexus 5 has it baked into the settings even, but Google seem to have no desire to put it out in the UK.
- iamdann 13y agoMeh, just like a Paypal debit card.
- misterparker 13y agoIt's exactly the same. You have to add money from your other cards/accounts to the wallet balance (aka paypal balance) then you spend it from there. So how long does it take for your google wallet balance to pull money from your other accounts or transfer the funds? This would be innovative, if you could spend money on it, then choose from which account you want it to be deducted ex post facto, and if you don't choose within 24 hours then it gets deducted from your default account. While this might be cool, google would be assuming a large amount of risk.
- thecoffman 13y agoAnd how long after I take the time to import all of my loyalty cards into this system before Google decides to go a different direction and shuts this down? Sigh...
- moskie 13y agoAs opposed to options and products provided by other companies, that are guaranteed to be around forever and ever.
- nivla 13y ago>As opposed to options and products provided by other companies... I think GP is rather trying to make an assessment based off Google's history of closing down services. Similar to I rather trust a stranger than a known con-artist, while realizing the possibility that either could walk away with your money.
- ollyculverhouse 13y agoSurely a good (read focused) company should ALWAYS close down more products than it starts?
- garethadams 13y agoYou mean if a company has started 10 products in its lifetime, it should close down those 10 products and also 2 other company's products?
- csallen 13y agoThere is a long, long history of other companies and products closing down, too.
- nivla 13y ago>There is a long, long history of other companies and products closing down, too. Yes but it also natural for human beings to follow: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."
- itsravi 13y agoI was an avid GW user back when I had the Nexus S but since then, none of my phones have had NFC so I was pretty excited about this announcement. I would use GW, and it would go ahead and charge my credit card, no fees. But if I am understanding correctly, that functionality is no longer there? Must I "add" funds (and incur this fee) to maintain my previous use case? Adding money to Wallet Balance from credit or debit card 2.9% fee with a $0.30 minimum
- psbp 13y agoYou have to add it directly from your account. It seems like a pretty sloppy implementation.
- footpath 13y agoAnother discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6770398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6770398 From the top of the other thread: "Let's clarify some things here, before the comment threads take off too much: - This is a prepaid card. It does not proxy other cards, unlike previous rumored versions of a Wallet card. - It only draws from Wallet balance. Funds can be added to wallet balance via various means (bank account [free], receiving a GMail P2P payment [free], credit cards [2.9% fee]), but this does not happen automatically. As such, it does not appear to be trying to achieve the same "card replacement" that e.g. Coin is. No, it is simply providing another way to get at Wallet balance that doesn't involve transfer to a bank account or NFC payment. Could be useful for people who make use of GMail P2P payments."
- anigbrowl 13y agoThe P2P has the potential be quite disruptive to Paypal.
- kin 13y agoIMO Venmo (which Paypal bought) is an excellent P2P service so Google's P2P is more of a catch-up than anything disruptive.
- anigbrowl 13y agoI don't disagree - I'm thinking og G's marketing muscle and huge synergistic opportunities rather than any technical superiority. Of course, those also come with the risk of antitrust action but it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
- wil421 13y agoSo its like Coin except Google gets all of my purchasing data and I probably have to join Google+ at some point.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- caiob 13y agoLike anything that is brand new and cool, it's only available for US residents. :(
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- hadem 13y agoMy first thought was along the lines of how great a service like this could be when abroad.
- swah 13y agoNot compatible with Nexus 4?