Google finally combined its Google Wallet and G-Pay apps within the U.S. with Wallet as the surviving app.
- Google Wallet digests G-Pay. Wallet is the surviving app and enables users to retain G-Pay’s NFC payments (cardless payments), capability. In addition, Wallet enables users to include other cardless transaction types such as loyalty cards, gift cards, transit passes, boarding passes, event tickets and more. This action simplifies Google’s Payments strategy and addresses our critique from weeks ago (Read HERE). By simplifying its payments offerings, Google is better positioned to compete with Apple Pay (ticker: AAPL).
- Google Pay will live to see another day. Google Pay (separate from the former “G-Pay” app), will stick around as a peer-to-peer (“P2P”), payments app similar to Venmo (ticker: PYPL). Hopefully Google Pay will eventually become part of Wallet as G-Pay did.