Tag: google

Google Maps may have mobile payments functionality in the future

Google continues to make moves in the mobile payments space, working to introduce a new feature into Google Maps that will allow consumers to make purchases through the service. Many people use Google Maps for directions, but they have also begun to use the service to find local stores. An updated version of Google Maps will include mobile payments support, something that a growing number of consumers have been asking for over the past several months.

New update for Google Maps is being tested

The update is still in early development, with Google testing a variety of new features that could make Google Maps more valuable to consumers. One of these features involves finding out gas prices at local stations. Another will include additional information concerning hotels, allowing consumers to determine whether or not certain amenities are available at a hotel they may be interested in. Google is looking to incorporate Android Pay into Maps, allowing consumers to make purchases directly from the service. Such purchases would likely be hotel stays or, potentially, making a payment in advance for products offered at physical stores.

Google continues to move ever deeper into the mobile payments space

Google has been involved in the mobile payments space for some time, having initially supported mobile transactions through Google Wallet. The Wallet service is still available, working alongside Android Pay, but Wallet is relatively unpopular among consumers. Android Pay, however, is quickly becoming a favorite with those that are interested in mobile payments. The service has proven to be quite convenient, allowing consumers to make purchases whenever they please. The service is also receiving strong support from retailers that wish to engage mobile consumers more effectively.

Maps may be an underrated mobile payments platform

Google Maps is a massively popular service, but relatively few people consider its potential as a mobile payments platform. Whether or not Google will actually introduce mobile payments support to Maps is still undetermined. The company has, however, been showing a great deal of support for mobile payments in recent years, believing that this sector will see magnificent growth in the coming years.

The VR tech for students will be expanding by 15 additional cities through the Expeditions Pioneer Program.

Google has recently announced that it will be broadening the reach of its Expeditions Pioneer program, which means that it will be sending its virtual reality kits to schools in a larger number of cities around the world.

The idea is to provide students with a new and fascinating VR based learning experience in the classroom.

Google explained that the program is meant specifically for providing virtual reality within the class environment. In order to create its over 100 different VR journeys, the company’s developers worked alongside teachers and other content partners from across the globe, “making it easy to immerse students in entirely new experiences.” Alongside this announcement, Google has also stated that it will be providing the technology to 15 new cities, some of which are in international marketplaces.

That said, Google did not immediately identify exactly how many schools would be receiving the virtual reality kits.

Across the United States, the cities that are expected to receive the VR technology kits include New Orleans, Las Vegas, Detroit, Baltimore, Orlando, Cincinnati, Alexandria, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Washington D.C., Salt Lake City and Portland. The countries into which this technology news will be taking steps includes Canada (Toronto), Singapore and Denmark. An unknown number of schools within those cities will be receiving the technology kits through the program.

The Google Expedition kit will be expanding through a partnership with Subaru and will include a tablet for the teachers of participating classes, ASUS smartphones as well as a router and the viewers that will convert the phones into VR devices similar to Google Cardboard.

The Expeditions program has not actually been around for very long since its initial launch, so it is quite interesting and potentially promising to see the speed at which Google has been broadening its reach. Many are interpreting the decision to add 15 new cities to the virtual reality program as an indicator that things have been going well in the cities that were involved in the first waves following the initial launch.