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Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

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Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#81

Post by JBReefer »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #60
eknkc wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might be really hard due to closed source / licensed components and google infrastructure dependant architecture.

That just seems like bad design on their part. In the past, Google leaned towards open source by default, and then kept just some of the secret sauce to their services proprietary, now it seems that their proprietary services is the bulk of what they produce. Perhaps they need to unbundle. Google Wave works great today on self-hosted platforms.

I've heard from people inside that the quality of their codebase has gone down, and thus they can no longer just upload stuff without a refactoring.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#82

Post by yohui »

Animats wrote: post #73
blakesterz wrote: post #2

hmm, not even sure what that was. I know this sounds like sour grapes complaining so feel free to read it in Verruca Salt's voice if you want... This is why I am scared to try anything new from Google. I know why they do it, I know how they do things, I totally get it, but it does not make it better. I know they like trying new things. I know they're not afraid to get rid of things that aren't performing like they wa…

Then there are the "lingering death" products, such as Google Voice. Google bought that from Grand Central in 2009, and it's still basically Grand Central. There's a running joke about Google Voice acquiring an API that's been in a bug report for five years now. I think there's a phone interface feature associated with Google Hangouts. ("Google Hangups?") But it probably requires that everyone you talk to have a Goog…

I think the Hangouts Dialer does use my Google Voice number. Google Voice voicemails also show up in Hangouts now, instead of the Google Voice app. Also, doesn't Project Fi use Google Voice numbers? And the recent Google Fiber home phone service?

The dedicated Google Voice app has withered, but Google seems to be integrating the service into their other projects.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#83

Post by jessriedel »

arawde wrote: post #70
wyldfire wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me more: what's this service about?

It's a bank startup which doesn't have physical locations. They're partnered with Bancorp, so your account is backed by FDIC, and they have a large number of ATMs. You can read more here https://www.simple.com/

> It's a bank startup which doesn't have physical locations

There's got to be more to it than that, right? There are lots of internet-only banks. I use Ally.

http://www.gobankingrates.com/banking/10-online-banks-2015/

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#84

Post by manigandham »

dheera wrote: post #43

The Wallet Card was invented for places that don't take Android Pay, to pay in the form of a regular credit/debit card. Unfortunately, this is useless because it is the same level of (in)convenience as a credit card, and doesn't offer the 2-5% cashback that all the other cards I have do. Even if a store accepted NFC-based Android Pay, I'd probably still opt to pull out my plastic card for the cashback and consumer pr…

Apple/Google Pay don't have anything to do with that.

The cashback, rewards and consumer protection are done through the card issuer and backing bank. You're still paying through the same account, but with a different interface (your phone instead of plastic).

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#85

Post by magicalist »

Animats wrote: post #73
blakesterz wrote: post #2

hmm, not even sure what that was. I know this sounds like sour grapes complaining so feel free to read it in Verruca Salt's voice if you want... This is why I am scared to try anything new from Google. I know why they do it, I know how they do things, I totally get it, but it does not make it better. I know they like trying new things. I know they're not afraid to get rid of things that aren't performing like they wa…

Then there are the "lingering death" products, such as Google Voice. Google bought that from Grand Central in 2009, and it's still basically Grand Central. There's a running joke about Google Voice acquiring an API that's been in a bug report for five years now. I think there's a phone interface feature associated with Google Hangouts. ("Google Hangups?") But it probably requires that everyone you talk to have a Goog…

> I think there's a phone interface feature associated with Google Hangouts. But it probably requires that everyone you talk to have a Google account.

Er, it's a phone interface. It makes phone calls. Everyone you talk to is only required to have a phone number.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#86

Post by sliverstorm »

sdegutis wrote: post #62
grahamburger wrote: post #6

This is the first of Google's product cancellations that will affect me personally. My wife and I have been using Google Wallet cards for budgeting - we transfer our spending money to the cards each week to help track our spending. Honestly there's no reason Google Wallet was superior for this - I expect Simple will solve our problems better anyway. Should have seen this coming when they split it off of Android Pay.

The only Google products that are guaranteed to stick around for the long term are Search and Gmail, and that's been pretty clear to see for the past decade. There's no good reason to get invested in any of their services with how often they pop up and how soon after they're shut down.

The only product really guaranteed to stick around is Search. Things closely wedded to Search (GMail, Android, Maps) are fairly safe bets.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#88

Post by chipperyman573 »

Animats wrote: post #67
dogma1138 wrote: post #21

Am I the only one who hears about like 75% of Google's products for the first time only when they issue EOL/EOS notices?

That's been my experience too. Google discontinuation notices come up on YC regularly, and I've heard of maybe half the products. The other half I've heard bad things about. Except Google Code Search. I liked Google Code Search. But there's no useful way to hang ads on it. They could have used it for recruiting. People doing searches for code in difficult areas might be worth talking to. Google has tried that. At one…

I've never heard of google code search, but based on what it sounds like it is, http://symbolhound.com might be an alternative.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#90

Post by calbear81 »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #71
dheera wrote: post #43

The Wallet Card was invented for places that don't take Android Pay, to pay in the form of a regular credit/debit card. Unfortunately, this is useless because it is the same level of (in)convenience as a credit card, and doesn't offer the 2-5% cashback that all the other cards I have do. Even if a store accepted NFC-based Android Pay, I'd probably still opt to pull out my plastic card for the cashback and consumer pr…

Where are you getting 5% cash back? Highest I've seen is Chase Sapphire with their points which are worth 2-3%. Highest straight cash back I've seen is Citi DoubleCash at 2%.

Discover has seasonal 5% categories that change every 3 months but they're pretty broad like "Gas and Groceries" or "Restaurants and Entertainment".

I have the old American Express Blue Cash card which has some crazy 5% cashback on gas and groceries once you hit a minimum spend during the year. That thing paid out like a slot machine when gas prices were hovering around $3.50 a gallon and I was doing a 100 mile commute daily.

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