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Comment by technofiend | Hacker News Reader

The cargo cult stuff is what cracks me up:

    Me: May I tap to pay?
    Cashier: Yes.
    Me: Great. :pulls out Pixel:
    Cashier: Oh, is that Android? We just take Apple Pay.

Never mind that Google Pay came out first, it's now dubbed Apple Pay like Apple invented it and cashiers are convinced the NFC reader only works with iPhones. Because Apple, apparently.

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Uhh, NFC devices really didn't work with google's service. This is not "cargo cult", this is pure and total google / android stupidity. Every time you claim it's just cargo cult you underestimate apple here.

Google had Google Wallet. Yes, it came out first, but then there was android pay. Then there was google pay send. Then there was Google Pay - which was a mishmash of chrome autofill and an actual app. Internationally its even more confusing, especially in india. Google pay picked up messaging (!!) explore for personalized ads (ugh). There was also peer to peer features.

Then they did a NEW google pay (2020?) that got rid of google accounts (!!!) and uses just your phone number, and you can't import folks you paid from previous app (!!!!). They have a combination of barcodes - 1d and 2d etc etc.

I'm not sure what the latest is. Android Pay taking over? Google Pay taking over? Going back to google wallet?

Keep on going on about the apple "cargo cult". I pay attention to this space a bit, and even I'm confused.

> Uhh, NFC devices really didn't work with google's service.

Isnt the NFC payment technology the same? I dont think Ive ever come across a payment terminal that accepted NFC payments that didn't work with my Android phone.

The naming thing, well that's Google for you. As a user it hasnt really been a problem though, I've just set up whatever the default app is on the phone when I buy a new one and never dont think about it again for another few years.

Google just announced Google Wallet "coming soon" https://twitter.com/Android/status/1524461345885892616

Can't make this shit up.

> Never mind that Google Pay came out first

Google Pay came out in 2018. Apple Pay came out in 2014.

Perhaps you meant Android Pay? Or Google Wallet? Probably not Google Pay Send.

The tendency to release products half-heartedly and haphazardly, then replace or rename them periodically, is likely why a company with a quarter trillion in annual revenue can't seem to establish any new brands.

Apple Pay was first by about a year (2014 vs 2015). Google had a payment product but it was browser based and not integrated into phones, didn’t work with tap to pay through existing nfc chips or anything special.

They seemed to respond to Apple Pay by changing the name (of course) to Android Pay. And there were also specific payment methods for some manufacturers like Samsung Pay also coming out about a year after Apple.

This is not accurate. I had a Nexus S 4G which debut in 2010. It had Google Wallet tap to pay (NFC). I don't exactly know when Google started offering NFC-based payments nor do I remember exactly what it was named as they keep disastrously rebranding their products, however it did come well before Apple Pay which launched in 2014. As per who popularized tap-to-pay in the U.S., there's no question that Apple wins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_S

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db5zNbD-QYs

The fact no one seems to be able to exactly pinpoint the moment Android phones were able to support NFC payments kind of tells you why everyone credits Apple for making it popular. Because they did!

Huh. Where is this? Where I live (UK) the terminals seems to be universal, and even much more obscure payment services (like Garmin Pay) work absolutely anywhere that accepts any kind of contactless payment (which is almost everywhere that isn't cash-only).

Americans have this whole idea that all their payment woes somehow apply to the whole world. Just recently, John Gruber wrote a lengthy treatise excoriating Europe for trying to force Apple to open up their NFC access. His whole argument was that Apple created the tap to pay market and was due its monopolist rent-seeking because of that. The reality is so different from what is happening in the US that Gruber looked like an Apple fanboy trying to defend the capitalist monopoly from [he checks his note] democracy.

Europeans and Canadians actually prefer to use bank-issued cards with NFC chips instead of phones, because it arrived first and is far more convenient.

I wonder why Google Pay isn’t a household name?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Pay

Maybe because it’s the same company that announced three messaging apps the same year and has the attention span of Dory.

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