Much Ado About Nothing

It’s been a dramatic week for Google, which seems to be how they like it. First they unveil Wallet, a suite of functions that turns your phone into a rewards earning, deal scouting payment portal. Then Pay Pall sue for what boils down to industrial espionage, accusing the employees responsible of using proprietary info obtained while working for them to make it happen.

Meanwhile the man in the street is freaking out about whether their personal info is safe, while programmers and retailers are salivating at the thought of being able to entice spenders through purchase rewards and location based offers. 

Your phone could detect and alert you to offers in your vicinity that, based on your interests and spending history, you might like to take advantage of. It’s like the illegitimate offspring of a grotesque Menage-a-Trois between a social media service, a bank and a GPS tracking service.

The thing is, money’s a concept, not an entity. NFC payment has been around for ages. People probably kicked up as much fuss when merchants started issuing bank notes and yet again when the government used alloys in coins. The hubbub will die down and we’ll continue as per usual, albeit with slightly less to carry around in our pockets.