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Google Makes Subtle Moves to Boost Mobile Payments Platform

January 23, 2024         By: Michael Cheng

Google Wallet may finally receive a much needed upgrade this year. Official announcements are expected during the company’s annual I/O conference in June.

Experts say the competitive nature of the mobile payments space has caught Google’s attention. In particular, it aims to slow down the spread of Apple Pay.

Rumors supporting the tech giant’s plans to boost its payments services start with the possible acquisition of Softcard, currently owned by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and, T-Mobile USA.

“We believe these efficiencies will best position Softcard in the marketplace while maintaining focus on serving out market,” mentioned a business representative during an interview with TechCrunch.

Professionals in the industry say Google is interested in the struggling company’s 120 mobile patents, which can be directly applied to its own digital wallet platform.

In addition to talks with Softcard, the business has been busy rolling out features under the radar, making minor tweaks to notifications and reoccurring transfers. Significant changes to its virtual wallet include material design and the optional, Google Wallet-tied physical debit card.

While other companies such as Samsung and CurrentC are quickly expanding to offer mobile payments services, Google seems to be taking an entirely different approach.

Piper Jaffray analysts said, “While the prospect of actually making money via small transaction fees as a payments platform for Google is likely not that attractive a business, we believe the potential for Google to tie ads on its platform to a specific offline conversion would be significantly valuable.”

The adoption process has been slow, mostly due to lack of support from major banks. Top financial establishments dislike the idea of pushing consumer data to Google for highly targeted ads. This may have caused the business to rethink its mobile payments strategy, further delaying the virtual wallet’s development.