The Google, six months after launching Android Pay, is ready to start testing a different kind of app that will let people make mobile payments even more easily, without payment cards or smartphones. Instead, the Hands-Free app uses Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, location data Relevant Products/Services, facial recognition technology and retailers in-store security Relevant Services cameras to confirm people's identities and enable purchases via their payment information saved through Google.
The application will be compatible for both Android and iOS devices. According to Google, Hands-Free is being piloted with a limited number of businesses in the South Bay area of San Francisco. The retailers participating in the tests include a few McDonald's and Papa John's restaurants, along with some local eating establishments. Google is offering early users who download the app discounts of up to $5 off their first purchases using Hands-Free. The app works with Android phones running Jelly Bean 4.2 and up and iPhone 4s and later models.
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A user who has downloaded the Hands-Free app and has his smartphones with him can make a purchase at a participating store just by telling the cashier, "I'll pay with Google." The cashier then confirms the buyer's identity Relevant Products/Services by checking the in-store camera's image with the person's initials and Hands-Free app profile. After every purchase, the camera image and data for that buyer are deleted, ensuring that information is no longer accessible to the retailer. None of the information is sent to or saved on Google servers, the company added. Google will also send instant notifications to a buyer's smartphone after every purchase, and will alert a user if it detects any unusual activity on his account.
For the moment, Google's not saying any more about how long the pilot will last or when it might expand Hands-Free to other markets and retail partners. Merchants who are interested in testing the app can submit their details via a form on the Hands-Free Web page. Where the app goes from here will likely depend upon the feedback Google gets from both users and participating businesses. "[T]here is plenty of room for innovation from Google and others," Greg Weed, director of card performance research at the research firm Phoenix Marketing International, told. "At the same time, the benefits of hand-free in-store purchases -- transactional speed/convenience and security -- appear to largely overlap with promised benefits from phone-based in-store purchases. This suggests that hands-free technology may not solve some of the more fundamental challenges faced by phone-based in-store purchases."
The success of the technology could ultimately depend on many factors, including how comfortable buyers are with apps that recognize their faces and physical presence in a store. That level of comfort could also be affected by many things, including the type of store, items purchased and dollar value of the purchase. Although the market is wide open to many innovations, a lot of work is still needed to build solid use cases for digital in-store purchases versus plastic payment card transactions.
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