Google manages some success in mobile commerce
Mobile commerce continues t
o be a tricky subject for large companies. Telecommunications and technology companies, as well as financial institutions, are well aware of the potential benefits of involvement in the mobile commerce industry, but many of these companies have had difficulty establishing a foothold witch consumers. The challenges facing these companies has not slowed the expansion of mobile commerce and some have even managed to find some success with their endeavors in the industry. Such is the case with Google.
Apple eyed as potential competitor
Though Google has managed to corner a part of the mobile commerce market with its Google Wallet platform, the company still faces strong competition from other platforms, such as Isis. Now, Google is eyeing what it thinks may be a challenge from an unlikely source: Apple. Apple is currently a very modest player in the mobile commerce field, but could be poised to make a big splash with its Passbook platform, which is designed to be a sort of digital wallet for a user’s information, tickets, coupons, and other content.
Update to Google Search to make it more competitive against Passbook
Though Passbook itself does not support mobile transactions on the same level that Google Wallet does, Google is still poised to beat out its potential competition. Thus, the technology company has launched a new update for its Google Search application. The application is now capable of monitoring a user’s email account to keep track of tickets, such as boarding passes. When the application detects this content, it generates a QR code that can be used for check-ins. This is identical to a feature of the Passbook, but Google takes it a step further by also offering information on nearby stores and activities.
Application boasts of new features
Google has also introduced a new camera search function that acts as a reverse image lookup feature as well as a feature that provides notifications on tracked topics, such as “mobile commerce news.” While the Google Search application will not be able to facilitate mobile payments any time soon, Google believes that providing consumers with yet another form of digital wallet may be what is needed to gain a strong foothold in the realm of mobile commerce.
