Mobile Marketing and Commerce Strategies

Google Wallet already holds payment and loyalty card information for users, but it’s looking to do more. However Google hopes to take it one step further; the company has plans to include boarding passes, identification cards and more, similar to what Apple is proposing with its Passbook.

Apple’s Passbook won’t be available until the latest OS comes out, and it won’t support mobile payments. However, it will be able to store reward and loyalty cards, movie tickets, and boarding passes according to Mobile Burn. Google, which is facing stiff competition from payment ventures such as Isis, MCX and PayPal, hopes that by adding more options such as buying passes from transit agencies to its Wallet will differentiate it from competitors. Currently, Google has a pilot program in place with the New Jersey Transit system that allows users to pay with their Google Wallet on some bus lines.

Yankee Group Principal Analyst Nick Holland comments

“Historically, inroads to mobile payments have been made via mass transit ticketing, where the speed and convenience of contactless ticketing has a measurable impact on throughput of travelers and stored value payments have been the next logical step. Google’s pilot with New Jersey Transit may be a good step in familiarizing users with the use of NFC in non-payment situations. It won’t bring in revenue, but it could be considered as training wheels to build much needed familiarity and confidence in this new form of interfacing with the physical world.”