Tag: google

Companies are making adjustments to how they approach mobile payments

Both Apple and Google are pushing further into the mobile payments space, hoping to establish a strong foothold there in and embrace a dominating position in the market. To do so, both companies are changing the way they approach the mobile payments space, making their services more attractive and robust for those that are interested in mobile shopping. Competition in this market is fierce, however, so both companies will have to work harder to engage consumers effectively.

Wallet is becoming a peer-to-peer payments solution

Google is preparing to unveil its plans for its troubled Wallet platform. Google Wallet allows users to participate in mobile payments, but the service has struggled to find traction with consumers for some time. Wallet was launched in 2011 and experienced a security problem shortly after its launch. The service had also been based on NFC technology, which limited its appeal to consumers due to the rarity of NFC-enabled devices at the time. Google has been working to overhaul the Wallet platform in order to make it more accommodating to consumers and merchants interested in mobile payments.

Improvements to Apple Pay may make it more attractive to consumers

As Wallet is being redesigned to be a peer-to-peer payment app, Apple is also planning on enhancing its own payment service, called Apple Pay. It is expected that Apple will introduce a loyalty rewards program in the coming months, which will reward those using the service regularly. Other enhancements include improved security features and functionality. Such improvements could increase the attractiveness of Apple Pay.

Apple and Google have to work to catch up with the competition that exists in the mobile payments market

Apple and Google entered into the mobile payments space somewhat later than other companies. This places them at a modest disadvantage as consumers have had time to get comfortable with other mobile payments platforms. By enhancing their platforms, Google and Apple may begin to generate more momentum  in this market and become prominent players on the mobile payments battlefield.

As the focus shifts to a multi device experience the search engine giant is making a number of considerable discoveries.

Mobile ads are a relatively recent component of the overall strategy at Google and, following its recent shift to focus on being more friendly to smartphones and tablets, and the technology giant has been developing a massive amount of insight about this advertising channel, particularly since “mobile-geddon”.

This insight seems to be guiding the company well, according to its senior vice president of ads and commerce.

That individual, Sridhar Ramaswamy, has explained that the company is handing its move to a multi device experience well. He has pointed out that selling mobile ads to advertisers could be more challenging when the majority of those advertisements end up on mobile devices, because they have screens that are smaller than standard desktops and laptops. Marketers hesitate because many consumers find it to be a hassle, or not adequately secure to follow an ad to the point that they will actually make a purchase.

However, Google is working hard to make sure that it can halt the slipping prices of its mobile ads.

The Wall Street Journal recently released a report that underscored Google’s efforts to improve the value of its advertising options. It has found that it can greatly benefit from the recent shift in the mobile technology toward the use of devices with larger screens.

Two of the devices that have effectively shown that consumers are interested in smartphones and mobile devices that have larger screens include the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which were launched by Apple, last fall. Similarly, the flagship Google smartphone that was recently released, the Nexus 6, features a large 5.9 inch screen.

While addressing the topic of mobile ads, Ramaswamy said that “As phones get bigger the space issue becomes less challenging.” He added that “This is essentially a tablet. People’s ability to navigate sites and fill out forms and such goes up tremendously,” as he withdrew his own Nexus 6 device to illustrate the point that he was making. These larger screen size trends, combined with the new data storage at Google, described in another Wall Street Journal report, indicate that the company is making every effort to overcome the decreasing willingness of marketers to pay for advertising on mobile screens.