Following the debut of its Pixel lineup, Google has really started to place more emphasis on its own name in branding. Recently, the company announced that it would be merging its payment options under the same roof with “Google Pay,” and that officially starts today.

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Google is kicking off the year in product announcements with a merger of Android Pay and Google Wallet. Google Pay will be the new moniker for both products going forward as the company aims to make payment experiences “simpler, safer, and more consistent.”

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Back in October, Project Fi added group plans that are ideal for families and feature straightforward management tools. The Google MVNO is now simplifying the payment portion of shared plans with automatic share calculation, reminders, and simple repayment options.

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After originally being Google’s source for NFC payments, Google Wallet has given up that role to Android Pay and transitioned to be an alternative to PayPal. From mobile, this has been pretty easy with Google Wallet’s fantastic Android and iOS apps. Now the web app has caught up…

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Google’s Android Pay mobile payment service has been decidedly more restrictive since day one, all in the name of security. How so? Android Pay has always relied on a connection with a supported bank, leaving many other users out of Google’s favor.

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Update: It’s confirmed. Google is now sending the below email to users who have a card.

A new app teardown from Android Police today reveals that the Google Wallet card — which was first announced in November 2013 after many rumors of the troubled project being scrapped — is now finally getting the boot effective June 30th. The card assumably never really took off, and it seems that I’m one of the rare few that still has one of these little now-souvenirs… expand full story

While Google has shifted its focus to Android Pay for contactless payments, Google Wallet has needed to reinvent itself somewhat as a peer-to-peer payment system. With the latest update, it’s become a whole lot easier to send money to your friends, family and contacts.

From today, the updated app on both iOS and Android will let you send money to anyone on your contact list, even if you don’t have their email address. You can send money to them using their phone number, and it’s secure and fast.

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Update: Google has officially announced the new app.

Today, we’re announcing a new Google Wallet app — now focused exclusively on sending and receiving money. You can use Google Wallet with your Android or iOS device to send money to anyone in the US with an email address, even if they are not a Wallet user. And now, when you receive money through Google Wallet, you can quickly cash out to a debit card or linked bank account.

Google today unexpectedly released a new Google Wallet app on the Play Store. Instead of updating the original Wallet app, the company released an entirely new app with an entirely new interface. At this point, it appears that the original Wallet app will be converted to Android Pay when it launches, while Wallet itself will live on in the form of today’s new app.

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Update: Google has posted a vague tweet to its Android account on Twitter, presumably in response to these reports. It simply says to “stay tuned” and ends with a #soon hashtag. Hard to draw many assumptions.

Android Pay will not go live today despite signals of otherwise from major fast-food chain Subway, and a purported leaked staff memo from McDonald’s, TechCrunch is now reporting.

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Is it happening again? It might be happening again. Verizon Wireless is still evaluating whether or not to support Samsung’s soon-to-be-launched mobile payments service, Samsung Pay, on its devices, according to a representative we spoke with from the company.

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Rite Aid was on the side of the slightly-more-retailer-friendly CurrentC for quite a while, but today the company announced that it will begin supporting mobile payment systems — the ones that some people actually use — on August 15th. expand full story

Google this evening has started rolling out an update to the stable channel of Chrome OS that bumps it to version 43.0.2357.81. The update brings a handful of new features that are certain to please Chrome OS users. First off, Chrome OS can now autofill credit card information from Google Wallet to browser fields that ask for such information. Other browsers, such as Safari on OS X, offer features similar to this.

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Most of the money transfer services that have popped up in Silicon Valley over the last several years don’t directly offer any federal-level insurance, and Google Wallet—until today—was a pretty good example. But now, according to a report from Yahoo Finance, Google is adding FDIC insurance to the money you keep in your Wallet Balance by storing your funds in various FDIC-insured banking institutions… expand full story

Google announced today that it has started rolling out an update to Google Wallet on Android with a couple of notable new features. First off, Wallet on Android now packs Google Maps integration. With this integration, you can see exactly where you performed any given transaction on an embedded map. This feature, Google says, will make it easier to notice any sort of suspicious activity that occurs.

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Hot on the heels of unveiling the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, Samsung has also announced its venture into the mobile payment industry. Cleverly dubbed Samsung Pay, the initiative will be compatible with both of the company’s latest flagship devices. Samsung Pay will launch in the United States and South Korea this summer, with Europe and China support to come at a later date.

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Google is planning to overhaul its mobile payment system in May during its I/O developer conference, a new report suggests. Google recently purchased “some” technology from SoftCard, with several major US carriers planning to pre-load Wallet on all new phones in the coming months.

The revitalized payment software is being referred to as “Android Pay” by Ars Technica, and like Apple’s own similarly named product, it will support payments in physical retailers as well as in-app sales. The entire offering will take advantage of Host Card Emulation, which essentially presents the phone to an NFC terminal as a clone of the card.

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According to a report out of The Wall Street Journal, Google is currently working to boost its Wallet payment service in order to keep up with Apple Pay. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the report claims that Google is currently in talks with carriers, banks, and device makers about reviving Wallet. The company currently plans to launch its new service at Google I/O in late May, according to the report.

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As Apple took the mobile payments market by storm last year with the introduction and hard push of Apple Pay into retailers, Google has started looking beyond its Google Wallet offering to provide new ways for people to pay for things with their Android phones.

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Samsung is planning to launch its own mobile payment service next year, in competition to both Google Wallet and Apple Pay, reports Re/code. It suggests that the company is in talks with LoopPay, a startup which describes itself as “the most accepted mobile wallet on the planet.”

The technology would allow people with certain Samsung phones to pay in the vast majority of brick and mortar stores by waving their phones instead of swiping with a credit card or cash […]

The talks between Samsung and LoopPay come as the idea of paying for goods in stores using a phone was rekindled in the U.S. thanks to the launch of Apple Pay.

The plan would allow Samsung’s mobile payment service to work with all cards and all payment terminals right out of the box … expand full story

Google is currently recruiting Wallet users with payouts and you can now throw deals in the mix as well. The company recently announced its new “Buy with Google” promotion, which offers discounts from a group of retailers including: B and H, Beautylish, CheapTicket, EAT24, Expedia, Fancy, JackThreads, LivingSocial, Newegg, Pose, Rue La La, Vinted USA, Sidecar Ride and Wish.

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Google wants you and your friends to use Wallet. Like, really badly. So much in fact, the company is running a cash-driven promo to motivate the service’s users. If you use Mountain View’s money service to send cash (even a penny) to a friend who doesn’t have a Google Wallet balance yet, the company will hit you and your amigo with a $5 kickback.

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Google has announced today that it is ending its support of Google Wallet for digital purchases, including games, goods, and services. The company announced that it will sunset Wallet for digital purchases in a support document, saying that the industry has “matured” a lot since the service was initially launched back in 2012.

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Android users might have raised an eyebrow at the media attention given to Apple Pay, given that the Google Wallet service has been available since 2011. However, it now appears that Google may be benefiting from Apple raising the profile of mobile payment: sources cited by arsTechnica report that Google Wallet service has seen the number of users almost double, with a 50% increase in weekly transactions during the past couple of months …

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According to a new report out of TechCrunch, Google is working to add Google Wallet functionality to Glass. Citing a “source close to the company”, the report claims that Google is currently testing the feature internally, but that it hopes to make it public in the near future. Currently, Glass users have to be signed in to a computer on Google’s corporate network in order to install the app on their Glass.

Like many features on Glass, Google Wallet will work almost exclusively with voice commands. Users will be able to simply ask Glass to “Send money”, then have the ability to swipe through the interface a view times and your done. One of the most common uses for this would be the ability to send your share of a dinner bill to a friend, much like with the Google Wallet integration in Gmail.

The fees for using Wallet with Glass will be the same as other services, with Google taking a 2.9 percent fee for all transactions. Google is certainly looking to add more practical use cases to Google Glass, and the ability to pay with Wallet will certainly come in handy for users.

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Registration for Google I/O is officially open. The registration window will be available through April 18th, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. PDT. The event is scheduled to take place June 25th – 26th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.

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Google announced today on its Google Commerce blog that it’s rolling out an update for the Google Wallet mobile apps that includes a new “Orders” feature for tracking online purchases. Google says the feature will let you stay on top of your online orders (including past purchases) as well as get notifications for status updates regarding deliveries. How will Google know what you’ve purchased? In order to track your recent online orders, the feature pulls receipts out of your Gmail account :

Once you activate Orders in Google Wallet, you’ll be able to see any receipts sent to your Gmail right in the Google Wallet app. We’ve also worked with primary package carriers in the US so that when your order status is updated, you’ll get notified of the update through Wallet. So whether your order is shipped, out for delivery, or delayed, you’ll never wonder about the status of your order.

The app also includes “products you’ve ordered, merchant contact information, and shipping details in the app” for your purchases and links to quickly contact retailers.

Google said the feature is rolling out to Android and iOS users in the US this week. You can activate Orders by tapping “Activate” under “Track your orders” or by tapping “Orders” in the app’s main menu.

Google has updated its Google Wallet application for the iPhone with a few notable enhancements. First, like it has added to its other apps on iOS as of late, Google now allows single sign-on for Wallet. This means that if you are signed in via Google to YouTube, Gmail, Adsense, or other compatible Google apps, you can be automatically logged in to the Wallet app. More interestingly, you can now use your iPhone’s camera to capture the data from your debit card or credit card to connect it to the app. Google added that feature to the Android app last month. Google Wallet recently launched a physical card program for Wallet. The update is free in the App Store.

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Just a day after Google launched a physical card to allow you to more easily withdraw cash and spend your Google Wallet balance, the company has released an update to the Android app allowing you to add additional cards just by photographing them.

Add a credit/debit card just by taking a picture. Both the number and expiration date will be captured automatically …

Yet another Google service bites the dust.  This one’s not as cut and dry as Google Reader, for instance, because some of the Google Checkout functionality will transfer to Google Wallet.

Merchants can continue to accept payments using Google Checkout until November 20, 2013.

• If you don’t have your own payment processing, you will need to transition to a different solution within six months. To make things easier, we’ve partnered with Braintree, Shopify and Freshbooks to offer you discounted migration options.

• If you are a U.S. merchant that does have payment processing, you can apply for Google Wallet Instant Buy, which offers a fast buying experience to Google Wallet shoppers.

At some point, Google’s brand is going to get tarnished by these closures. How am I going to feel comfortable getting behind a new Google product if I know there’s a more than 50% chance it will close?  expand full story

Following its I/O keynote address today, Google just announced on its commerce blog that it will soon be integrating Google Wallet features into Gmail to allow users to send and receive money. The feature will be available to those with a Google Wallet account and will initially be available to users 18 and older in the US:

Google Wallet is now integrated with Gmail, so you can quickly and securely send money to friends and family directly within Gmail — even if they don’t have a Gmail address. It’s free to send money if your bank account is linked to Google Wallet or using your Google Wallet balance, and low fees apply to send money using your linked credit or debit card.

Google will be adding a new $ icon next to the paperclip icon for attachements that will allow users to “attach money” to messages in Gmail by simply entering the amount and clicking send.

Google noted that the feature will first only be available on the desktop, but that users can also send money through wallet.google.com on mobile devices.

Look for the feature to start rolling out in the coming weeks but earlier access will be granted to those that receive money from others using the feature. You can learn more about sending money with Gmail here.

Google today announced today that Google’s new hangouts service/experience  would be available in Gmail:

What does this mean for your Gmail? You now have the option to switch from the current version of chat to Hangouts. Simply click “Try it out” next to your chat list to switch to Hangouts and give your chat an instant facelift (literally!). You’ll now see the profile photos in the order of your most recent conversations. With Hangouts, you’ll also be able to quickly send messages, have video calls with up to ten people at once, and share photos. You can start a conversation with just one friend or even a whole group.

Google today announced that it is revamping the Google voice search feature available in Chrome. While users have always been able to search with their voice through Chrome, Google is attempting to make the service work more like it does through Google Search apps and Google Now on mobile devices.

Chrome will now include “conversational search” with a brand new interface that doesn’t require users to click in order to search with their voice. Like on mobile devices with Google Now, users will now be able to simple say “Google” in order to activate voice search.

Today, we previewed what this conversational experience will look like in Chrome on your desktops and laptops. Soon, you’ll be able to just say, hands-free, “OK Google, will it be sunny in Santa Cruz this weekend?” and get a spoken answer. Then, you’ll be able to continue the conversation and just follow up with “how far is it from here?” if you care about the drive or “how about Monterey?” if you want to check weather somewhere else, and get Google to tell you the answer.

The new interface, as pictured above from Google’s demo of the feature, is much like the voice search interface for Google Now on Android devices.

While not a full blown Google Now experience yet, the feature will allow users to pull up flight information, email, calendar entries and more by taking advantage of Gmail field trial features that some users have already opted in to try.

The new feature will be coming to Macs and PCs through Chrome soon.

Google also briefly showed off some new content coming to Google Now including new cards for Reminders, Music Albums, TV Shows, Books, Public Transit, and Video games rolling out today: expand full story

Some pretty incredible new features of Google+ Photos today that will probably be burying Picasa once and for all. Using their algorithms, they will enhance and help sort photos saving time and energy with the net result being incredible photo albums.

Google today announced new features coming to the Google Play Developer Console that will make it easier for developers to track and optimize apps across markets.

Perhaps one of the biggest features that will soon be available to developers is the ability to manage beta testing and staged rollouts right from within the Developers Console. The tool will allow developers to select a percentage of users for a stage rollout and easily beta test their apps among small amounts of users.

Among the new features, Google will be rolling out a new APK translation feature built into the console that allows developers to purchase translations through various providers directly through the console.

Other features headed to the developer console include optimization tips, referral tracking, and detailed revenue graphs. Check out a full gallery of the new features below: expand full story

We knew from leaks in the weeks leading up to I/O that Google was planning some gaming related announcements and today the company has officially announced the service in a press release ahead of its Google I/O keynote taking place now. Not only will the service allow Android developers to build in real-time multiplayer, social features, achievements, and leaderboards while storing game saves and settings in the cloud, the SDK for Google Play game services will also be available to iOS and web developers.

Google noted a few titles for Android have already been updated with the feature including World of Goo, Super Stickman Golf 2, Beach Buggy Blitz, Kingdom Rush, Eternity Warriors 2, and Osmos.

Not surprisingly, the cross-platform gaming service will also build in Google+ integration to track high scores, achievements and more:

-Achievements that increase engagement and promote different styles of play.

-Social and public leaderboards that seamlessly use Google+ circles to track high scores across friends and across the world.

-Cloud saves that provide a simple and streamlined storage API to store game saves and settings. Now players never have to replay Level 1 again.

-Real-time multiplayer for easy addition of cooperative or competitive game play on Android devices. Using G+ Circles a game can have up to 4 simultaneous friends or auto-matched players in a game session together with support for additional players coming soon.

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Earlier this week Google confirmed that its head of Google Wallet will leave later this year, and today AllThingsD reports that the company is scrapping its plans for a physical credit card that would accompany its mobile payment service.

Google CEO Larry Page reportedly canned the physical card just last week after being dissatisfied with its reliability due to glitches.

The company was reportedly preparing to demo the physical card, which featured the colorful Google Wallet “W” branding, at Google I/O next week, so it is interesting that this report is surfacing so suddenly.

Larry Page reportedly cited more innovative approaches to mobile commerce from startups like Square, which seems to have solidified his decision to shred the company’s plans for a physical Google Wallet credit card.

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