Adoption of mobile wallets by consumers remains quite low (with actual usage likely even lower) but that is apparently not stopping technology providers from trying to capitalize on what many consider as an inevitable shift in purchasing behavior.
Google, for example, recently announced its mobile payment service, called Google Payment, which is designed to facilitate an easier check out experience for their online purchases. Does it live up to the hype?
The offering will allow users to pay with any card in their Google account (whether it is a credit card or debit card) and conceivably check out more quickly by automatically providing merchants with both their payment and shipping information.
That's great and all, but is it enough?
One (very) appealing aspect of the solution is that Google will not charge merchants any transaction fees (at least for now). Another is that it has already partnered with a selection of popular payment providers including Adyen, Braintree, Vantiv, and Stripe, with others to reportedly come in the future, so it could reduce some of the integration challenges right out of the virtual gate. Google has created
developer documentation with information about how to get started with Google Payment.
It's really anyone's guess why more consumers aren't using mobile wallets but it is likely a combination of some concern over security and that they are simply already satisfied with their existing payment methods. The question, of course, is whether it's enough
