Google Plaso: Does Google Have a Bigger Wallet Plan?
Some of the biggest developments in technology are done under the banner of code names, designed to obscure the true meaning of a project until a more advantageous release time. Thus, when a leak emerges—as it so often does—the impact of the leak is lessened by operating under the code name.
One such incident emerged around Google’s Plaso, a system that seems to be under testing right now with some fairly major names, and is already inviting comparisons to Square Wallet, a development that could make an already competitive market even more so.
The current word suggests that Google is already testing Plaso with Panera Bread and Papa John’s, meaning that this could be a fairly major option once it’s all said and done.
Early reports suggest that Google Plaso is an attempt to supplant the release of Google Wallet, which hasn’t done so well among consumers in the field. There have also been some reports that suggest that Google Plaso isn’t going to try and stick with near-field communications (NFC) like Google Wallet did, a measure which may well give Google Plaso an advantage right out of the gate..
The current word spells out how Plaso is intended to work. A user enters a store and sets up a transaction to buy something. The cashier then asks for the user’s initials, and then looks for said initials in the Plaso interface, from there, billing the purchase to said user. The cashier has a kind of terminal—generally a smartphone—that displays the Plaso-enabled devices within Bluetooth range of said terminal, so there’s less risk of, say, someone billing my purchases, for example, to Sandra Ackerman.
Naturally, there’s still quite a bit about this as yet that’s unclear. The biggest point to some is the sheer similarity between this system and Square Wallet, a service that Square actually shut down roughly a year previous.
That’s got some wondering what’s going on here; why would Google engage in a service that Square couldn’t make work only just a year ago? Sure, Google can bring resources probably around an order of magnitude greater than even Square could, but it must have some kind of strategy in place.
With Google, just about anything is possible. They could have a plan that no one has even considered. They could be poised to break into Apple Pay’s rapidly growing market. But one thing is quite clear: Google Plaso is still very much a mystery, at least for now.