Google announced this week that it is doing away with the physical plastic card formally known a Google Wallet. An article in The Verge explains the facts and a little of Google’s strategy:
Google announced today it would no longer support its Wallet Card starting June 30th. The prepaid debit card, which launched back in November 2013, let you pay for things in person and online using your Wallet balance at any retailer that accepted MasterCard. It also let you withdraw money from ATMs. In an email sent to Wallet Card owners, Google says it wants “to focus on making it easier than ever to send and receive money with the Google Wallet app.”
Google Wallet is now the app for Person-to-Person transactions only, competing with the likes of PopMoney, ClearXchange, Venmo, Square Cash, Snap Cash and several others.
What Google Wallet will now not do with the discontinuation of the plastic card is facilitate in-store and on-line purchases, or get cash at an ATM.
All of the purchasing capabilities are shifted to Android Pay.
Android Pay has become the company’s new platform for mobile in-store and in-app purchases. So a world where a debit card can be preloaded with cash from your computer no longer makes all that much sense.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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