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Google CEO Confirms Online Payment System

Posted by Zonk on from the your-g-branded-online-wallet dept.

didde writes "Reuters is reporting on statements that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt had made regarding Google's upcoming payment system. Apparently they're not looking to compete with PayPal." From the article: "Schmidt said Google does not intend to offer a 'person-to-person stored-value payments system' like PayPal's, in which money briefly resides in PayPal's control during the transaction, but he did not give details of how the Google system would differ."

5 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Currency by Decameron81 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe they are going to offer Googlecoins as the first form of virtual currency?

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    diegoT
  2. My guess/hope by metamatic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm guessing and hoping that Google is going to introduce the first viable micropayment system on the web. If anyone can do it, they can.

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    GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
  3. Beta? by Moiche · · Score: 5, Interesting
    They may have to skip the beta this time. I don't think I'd trust a pre-release version of the software to transfer money.

    me: I transferred 100$ for his pog collection. Where did it go?

    google support: But it's beta! And Beta means we can fuck up from time to time!

    Also -- not competing with Paypal because they aren't going to store money? Sure, but won't google add that functionality the moment it becomes commercially advantageous? Not to mention the fact that I think for most people, an instanteous credit to your credit card (or bank account or whatever) when you get paid for you antique pog collection is not such a bad thing.

    Final thought -- for every post in this thread complaining about the number of Google stories on /. -- God kills a kitten. What -- prove me wrong.

    --Moiche

  4. Perspective by deutschemonte · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think it is important to put this in the "Google Mindset" if you will: Everything Google does is related to search.

    They made GMail to allow you to store all your messages you ever send/receive and then give you a powerful tool to search through them.

    Google Maps is just a nice compliment/interface to Google Local.

    And the list goes on. So what can Google do to bring the power of search to a payments system?

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    The preceding message was based on actual events. Only the names, locations and events have been changed.
    1. Re:Perspective by BewireNomali · · Score: 4, Interesting

      interesting point. very.

      the search correlation is that they can now separate the link-clickers from the product buyers. Further, they can gauge your spending habits and further target ads to maximize effectiveness. Your mom's birthday is in august, let's say, and you always buy something online around that time to get over to her. They can target mom-like gifts around that time, increasing the liklihood of the purchase, and they get cash off the transaction, the clickthrough, and the sale. I think anyway.

      Then they start creating a database of faithful online shoppers and start charging premium prices to advertise to that crowd.

      You're totally right. It all has to do with the information. The don't actually handle money, they assume none of the liability, and they don't have to expand into a core business that is not an intrinsic strength.

      Shit, man.

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      un burrito me trampeó.