Google Wallet, Google Purchase, and GBuy

20 June last year, Wall Street Journal runs an article, saying Google has plans to offer PayPal-like services. At that time, the popular name among analyst was “Google Wallet”.

Google Inc. this year plans to offer an electronic-payment service that could help the Internet-search company diversify its revenue and may put it in competition with eBay Inc.’s PayPal unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Exact details of the search company’s planned service aren’t known. But the people familiar with the matter say it could have similarities with PayPal, which allows consumers to pay for purchases 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.

Officials of Google and PayPal declined to comment.

Gary Price of Search Engine Watch did some research and found that two months before that, Google Inc filed the paperwork with the California Secretary of State and formed the Google Payment Corporation.

One year forward, after many news and speculations, and going through two name changes (it was called Google Purchase before finally changed to GBuy), Google’s payment service is finally reaching its official launch.

According to Forbes, GBuy is set to launch on 28 June.

Consumers using GBuy, which is set for release on June 28, will be taken off the merchant’s site to complete the payment. This will enable Google to capture e-commerce transaction data, driving more precise targeting in future searches.

“If harnessed, the precision of this targeting could be revolutionary,” wrote RBC analyst Jordan Rohan in a report Friday.

Update : Apparently, the latest name for the Google payment service is Google Checkout .

Update : paikia spotted the payment service being used at Picasa Web, and the finalized name is Google Purchase.

Other Related Links
kottke.org - Google Wallet (19 June 2005)
The Register - PayPal founder on Google’s Wallet (24 June 2005)
The Inquirer - Goodbye eBay, here comes GBuy (12 June 2006)
Associated Press, via MSNBC - Report: Google to start new payment system (18 June 2005)

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• Optimizing AdSense by User Behaviour
• 10 Basic SEO Techniques Every Webmaster Should Know

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