Pay ME Now: Google to Offer Online Payment Services
(WSJ sub req) Google to Offer Payment Service Like PayPal
The largest online ad and information broker wants to broker transactions too. No real details exposed, but this (WSJ sub req) is not a real surprise:
Google Inc. this year plans to offer an electronic-payment service that could help the Internet-search company diversify its revenue and may heighten competition with eBay Inc.'s PayPal unit, according to people familiar with the matter.
It will be interesting to see what sort of walls Google builds as they expand into other verticals.
You can't dip your toe into certain markets without a strong desire to shut out competitors, but if the moves are too blatent people will shun Google. Their search algorithms and business practices will get called in question much more frequently now. A while ago, due to that hum dinger too much similar anchor text filter Google rolled out, PayPal was not ranking for its own name. Now you will have people asking if things like that are an accident or a feature.
I can't see some marketers wanting to share transaction history details with their ad broker, but if the roll out is smooth and smart Paypal could be screwed. Interesting times indeed.
Notice how this news came out on a Friday evening after the market closed, so Google could generate spin and press all weekend long.
California Business
California Business Application.
While this certainly a good thing for Google and it's shareholders, I can't help but wonder at how much more data they will have now. Matching up searchers with completed transactions ...
Posted by Pleeker
Link to AP Story...
It won't hurt for PayPal to
It won't hurt for PayPal to have a little competition. However, when you start handling other people's money you better be prepared for full reporting of transactions and proper audit trails etc. You also have to have clear written rules for customers and merchants in plain language, not make it up as you go. Not only is Google secretive but they hate to actually write rules down - that could lead to trouble for them.
I've been pretty happy with Paypal, but still stirring the PayPal pot a bit might not be too bad an idea.
Competition welcomed
Paypal still has so much potential but its still not universially accepted, what I'd hope is that the Google alternative might deliver close to a universal online currency so users no longer have to cash in or out for the majority of their online transactions
And Yahoo!, too?
Could be that they are just trying to keep up with Yahoo!. (Patent application published on Thursday.)
This is a killer, how on
This is a killer, how on earth can these muppets do something like this?
"so, what are the T's and C's google?"
"er.. hohoho.. we forgot to do that hehehe! aren't we fluffy and lovely? Don't you love us? really?"
pffft...
Just a rumor
The WSJ article quoted a few folks who were quoting a few other folks none of which worked at google. The stock might get a nice pop next week but I wouldn't expect this to be real anytime soon. If real I would expect it to be more of a commission vehicle for google, they'll just take their cut out of the sale, forget CPC it will be who pays the largest commission. True performance based marketing.
crazy, maybe.
There is something very strange with visiting Yahoo.com to read an article that starts "Online search-engine leader Google Inc. "... ;)
google and due diligence
Just a reminder of all the security snafu's that their various spinoff products have had. Gmail and desktop search come to mind.
Their usual pr response has been "it's in beta".
And what happens when you have a problem? Will you get the usual boilerplate responses?
This should be funny to watch.
The press gets befuddled about security issues, until credit card info gets lost. Then it's every headline editor's dream: well known brand + dirt.
common
credit card data is lost all the time. just this weekend there was a report of a security breach with 40 million MasterCards
Thanks Nick
Thanks for grabbing part of my original post, Nick. Sorry I missed Aaron's post - should've just added to it. But I really liked my "If they're looking to diversify revenue streams, why not do bake sales in the parking lot" line, too. :-)
Anyway, it strikes me that -- if this is real -- G (and/or Y, given the patent app. referenced above) might be aiming, at least initially, at a different target than Paypal. You're not like likely to crack too far into the auction market. Paypal seems to have a real strong hold there. But G or Y could very well use this as another webmaster service and go after that side of the market -- web site owners in need of a payment solution. Might be a good opportunity there.
Wow
These are the days of our lives!
great opportunity....
> Might be a good opportunity there.
yep, for more lovely data collection ;)
International users also want to pay on internet
I love Paypal, but as a citizen of EU and with a bad luck we are not in Paypal supported country I see Google Pay as a upcoming solution of payment problems with Paypal for some of EU coutries.
One over PayPal
If Google indeed roll this out, it would be interesting to see if they support transactions for adult services or goods. PayPal dropped this support a few years ago, much to my annoyance. They claimed that it was such a small part of their turnover, it didn't outweigh the risks. It seems that no credit card processor wants to touch the adult industry with a barge pole these days. Can you spell "chargeback"? :)
shares in eBay taking a
shares in eBay taking a little hit on this news...
CEO Says Google Won't Compete With PayPal
More here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050622/ap_on_hi_te/google_payments