Will Google Wallet Force PayPal to Accelerate Global Expansion?
Get the List of 5,400+ Translation Agencies Now!
No Recurring Membership Fees!
The announcement by the
WSJ
that Google is prepping a payment service is big news
in the ecommerce world and, I think, good news for
consumers.
According to the article, "Exact
details of the search company's planned service are
not known. But the knowledgeable people say it could
have similarities with PayPal, which allows consumers
to pay for purchases on Web sites by funding electronic-payment
accounts from their credit cards or checking accounts.
Some consumers like PayPal for the security it offers,
since it allows them to share their banking or credit-card
numbers only with PayPal without having to divulge
the information to merchants."
PayPal is a great service. My company
uses it and it has allowed us to accept payments from
all over the world. My only concern has been the flood
of PayPal phishing spam and what effect it is having
on user trust and behavior.
But now we have Google getting into
the game, with a service possibly called Google
Wallet. At the very least I believe that
Google Wallet will pressure eBay to rethink its global
expansion strategy for PayPal. Currently, PayPal follows
in the footsteps of eBay. When eBay launches a country
Web site, it's just a matter of time before PayPal
supports that market.
However, PayPal might be wise in expanding
into markets ahead of eBay because Google has a track
record of "going global" at a blistering
pace. eBay knows well, after ceding Japan to Yahoo!
a few years back, how being a late entrant into a
market can hurt. And yet Google is going to face its
share of roadblocks along the way. The reason PayPal
has gone global relatively slowly is not so much technical
but legal. PayPal needs to forge partnerships with
local banks and get regulatory approval in these markets
before it can enter, and you can imagine the time
and lobbying involved; I've heard that this process
alone can take up to 18 months per market. There
is still no PayPal China.
I would imagine that Google is going
to have to do jump through the very same hoops that
PayPal has jumped through, unless it is taking a different
approach altogether.
Regardless, I'm glad to see Google
getting into ecommerce in a global way. It will push
PayPal to be even better, most likely keep processing
fees low, and keep the folks at Visa, MasterCard,
et al at bay.
PS: Earlier this year we published
a global analysis of eBay.
Read
more articles - Free!
E-mail
this article to your colleague!
Need
more translation jobs? Click here!
Translation
agencies are welcome to register here - Free!
Freelance
translators are welcome to register here - Free!
Subscribe
to TranslationDirectory.com newsletter - Free!
Take
part in TranslationDirectory.com poll - your voice counts!
|
