My old friend Osama Bedier now works for Google. This is especially interesting after reports that Google has partnered up with MasterCard and CitiGroup to test out an NFC payments system.
It’s also pretty interesting in light of the fact that Google recently filed for a patent for a “Distributed Electronic Commerce System With Centralized Point Of Purchase”, or what sounds like a mobile shopping cart that wraps ups all elements of a transaction into a process, goes beyond PayPal and actually collects data about what users are buying.
Bedier started his Web 2.0 Expo talk by emphasizing that eCommerce hasn’t changed very much in 13 years, but then said that it was about to go through a major transition, as the convergence of mobile, local and social will change the industry. He set aside three elements that needed to be in place before the next eCommerce revolution.
1. Payments need to go digital.
2. Inventory needs to live in the cloud.
3. Identity needs to be interoperable.
So what does the future of eCommerce look like? It looks like it did 50 years ago, with a completely personalized experience according to Bedier. “But over coming these challenges, it’s not about any one app site or company,” everyone has to work together, Bedier said.
Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and Google+, the company’s extension into the social space. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google’s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing...
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