The Pony Express may have dire consequences for credit unions
by: Glen Sarvady
The latest payments news from the Google camp involves the firm’s announced reboot of Android Pay and Google Wallet. I’ll defer to others to provide the specifics (the NY Times offers a nice synopsis) but I’m struck by the extent to which Apple Pay is winning the PR wars. Android Pay is being portrayed as a “me too” offering, and Google’s media relations group can’t be happy about seeing terms like “flopped,” “unsuccessful,” and “not simple” in their launch coverage.
Although details remain sketchy, Google’s more intriguing news involves the leak of a project dubbed Pony Express.
The check is in the email?
According to multiple reports, Pony Express aims to allow users to make bill payments directly from their Gmail inboxes- eliminating the need to visit biller or bank websites. If these early reports prove accurate- and they may actually be trial balloons intended to gauge market reaction- such functionality would represent quite a shot across the bow of the banking community. Meanwhile Android Pay’s features look more like hand-to-hand combat with tech competitors like Amazon and PayPal.
