Google Patent Filing Ignites Rumours of “GPay” Mobile Payment Service

6:30 am on September 4, 2007 | Category: Business, Web Services, Wireless

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Internet giant, Google Inc., which is reported to be designing its own mobile handset product, may also have its eye on the wireless payment market.

A Google patent application, filed last year but only just published, describes how a mobile phone could trigger a “computer-implemented method of effectuating an electronic online payment.”

Such a service, dubbed “GPay” by bloggers, would allow users to send a text message to Google, detailing a payment they want to make to a specific recipient. Google would then debit the sender’s bank account, and credit the payee. Payments could be made externally from one bank account to another, meaning that recipients would not necessarily need to have an account with GPay.

A handful of mobile payment systems already exist, but Google is sure to add its own unique touches to the idea. Major concerns that the web giant will need to address are security, ease-of-use, and practicality for business users.

When asked to comment on the GPay rumours, a Google spokesman would only comment that “we file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t.”

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    Published by TeleClick Enterprises
    Edited by Jeremy Maddock