AMCP Tech Blog

Google has finally launched their rumored PayPal-like service, called Google Checkout. Google Checkout will aim to simply be the company that plays the "man-in-the-middle" in online transactions. This type of "online wallet" is hardly a new term. In-fact, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL have all offered similar services. However, none of them could possibly take down eBay's PayPal, which has attracted worldwide appeal and offers many impressive features such as the ability to transfer money from checking accounts.

Google plans to waive some transaction fees from companies that also buy advertising - Which is a great idea because it encourages companies to advertise on Google. This may give this product the chance it needs to become a popular tool against competitors such as PayPal. For every $1 a company spends on advertising on Google, Google will waive the fees on $10 worth of purchases. So Google is effectively rewarding the companies that decides to advertise on Google.

Unlike PayPal, Google will store all of the users information, such as credit card information and limit e-mail content from other companies. Many privacy experts will have a stroke when they find out that Google will now know where you live, your credit card information, the contents of your e-mail, and what you search for. However, Google will be the only company that will know what your credit card actually is, because of this unified shopping identity that they are now using in Checkout. You can keep yourself safe from companies knowing too much about you by keeping the company you use your e-mail for separate from the company that handles your searches. For example, if you use Yahoo! Mail, use Google for searching. This way, a company won't know everything about you.

As Steve Rubel writes, Google will allow Checkout to be integrated into other websites and soon into Google Base (As of this writing, the links are not live). This will no doubt bring Google a step closer towards becoming the only place to buy stuff online.

Marshall Kirkpatrick thinks that Google Checkout won't offer any new features that will make him want to switch from using PayPal. The problem with that kind of thinking is that Google doesn't want to kill off PayPal. Google wants to make it more effective to advertise on AdWords by making it easier and faster for users to buy products advertised on AdWords. In the end, it all comes down to getting more companies to advertise on Google - Making more money for Google in the end. Google doesn't launch these strange products just to kill every innovative company, but to integrate it into what has become Google's most important revenue stream - Advertising. When thinking about a product from Google, it's important not to look at what the product does, but what piece of the puzzle it will serve as.