Friday, May 27, 2011

What's in Your Google Wallet?

In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our LivesSo yesterday Google announced their new service, Google Wallet.  The no-touchy hands-off payment system works like a credit card but instead of getting frustrated because your card will not swipe you can get frustrated waving your phone at check out line.  I image a scene where a dozen people are in front of the Wal-Mart check out waving their hands like they are trying to Jedi mind trick a damn machine.  "Seriously, these are the Doritos I was looking for"  The service will also send you coupons, finally turning spam emails into those annoying newspaper-like things in my mail that I use for wrapping paper.

Also, Paypal sued Google over this service.  Yep.  Apparently when you leave one company to go work at another that oddly starts making nearly the same product, that's grounds for a lawsuit.  But do you think Paypal will win?  I doubt it.  The idea is pretty common and Google's been looking to break in to this market for years with services like Google Checkout and attempting to buy Groupon.  As long as I can get my BOGO coupons for my Zima, who cares?