The publication of a recent Google patent has industry insiders speculating that Google is working on a mobile phone-based payment service. The service is being called GPay until Google announces or denounces this rumor. In tandem with GPay, there is growing speculation that Google will sell a low-cost internet enabled handset dubbed the GPhone.
The GPay system differs from other payment services as far as the user is concerned. The patent suggests that a user wouldn’t have to keep an account with GPay. GPay takes money from the user’s bank account and transfer it to the payee. It is unknown what type of fee would be incurred.
And nothing goes better with GPay than a GPhone, or so the rumors say. There has been a lot of chatter about a Google phone that is internet enabled and could sell for as little as $100. And in keeping with Google’s corporate culture, I doubt the GPhone will be locked to one carrier like the iPhone.
Caveat: this is all speculative. Just because a company files for a patent doesn’t mean the patented item will come to market. The Patent Office is full of designs for perpetual motion machines that no one bothered to produce.