Initial commentary from The Strawhecker Group (TSG)

We’re simply seeing mobile payment players jockeying for position. After mobile payments failed to gain consumer interest for years, competition in the space has now heated up since Apple announced Apple Pay last September. Apple Pay is now forcing other players to up their game to stay competitive. Samsung in March announced its own service, called Samsung Pay, for its Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones. Also, Google in February acquired some of the technology behind Softcard, a payments system backed by several US telecommunications firms. PayPal, too, is working to improve its mobile services.

Google’s initial forays into mobile payments failed to catch on, so Google is ramping up its challenge to Apple in mobile payments through its pay-with-a-phone system for Android devices. For Google, mobile payments is a mode of gaining insight about customers and will act as a hook to reel individuals within its network of services. On the other hand, for Apple, mobile payments will connect people directly with its key product, the iPhone.

One thing is for certain, Android Pay has much more opportunity for success than its predecessor, Google Wallet. Google Wallet failed to take off because mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T blocked the company from accessing a chip called “the secure element,” a component that allows financial information and other credentials to be safely stored. With Softcard in its pocket, Google is able to access the secure element and overhaul its payment system. But it may be too little, too late. Where Google Wallet was a pioneering product, Android Pay is launching into a crowded market. Apple Pay has already captured the world’s attention, even if it hasn’t taken off yet, and it has features that Google is only now catching up to. What’s worse, Apple Pay isn’t Google’s biggest problem – Samsung is. Samsung makes the most popular Android devices and, unfortunately for Google, has plans to launch its own mobile payment platform, Samsung Pay. While a wide range of manufacturers use Android’s operating system, Samsung sells a lot of Android phones, and its payment feature stands to stifle Android Pay’s growth.

Subscribe to the comments for this post?

Share this on Facebook

Share this on LinkedIn

Email this to a friend?

Share this on del.icio.us

Add this to Google Reader

Share this on Technorati

Seed this on Newsvine

Share this on Blinklist

Share this on FriendFeed

Add this to Google Bookmarks

Post on Google Buzz

Post this to MySpace

Share this on Plaxo

Submit this story to Propeller

Add to a lense on Squidoo

Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

Share this on Tumblr

Buzz up!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.