Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook could push deeper into our wallets after coronavirus
When the coronavirus pandemic finally recedes and we can rejoin society, many of us will go through our ritualistic personal pat-down before heading out to make sure we have our keys and phone. What we may not need is our wallet.
Apple, Google, Samsung, Facebook, Amazon and many others are in the midst of a pitched effort to take over our finances. The utopian paradise they promise would finally do away with the wallets and purses filled with money and plastic. In their place would be a series of apps such as Apple Wallet, Samsung Pay and Google Pay. To many of these companies, it’s just a matter of time.
“We love this kind of problem,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said when introducing Apple Pay in 2014. “It’s exactly what Apple does best.”
Six years later, we’re closer than ever to Apple’s vision. All major credit cards work with digital wallets from Apple, Google and Samsung. Airline tickets do, too. More than 15% of all Starbucks orders come from phones now, the company said in January. Governments around the world are slowly preparing to offer driver’s licenses on our phones as well.
And there’s more to come. Google and Amazon are working to build “checking account-like” products, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal last year. Google is said to be partnering with Citigroup and a local credit union to create a debit card to rival the Apple Card, while Amazon is talking to banks including JPMorgan Chase. Apple partnered with Goldman Sachs for its Apple Card, launched last year.
Facebook, meanwhile, wants to replace banks altogether with its Libra project. The digital money, which is designed using cryptocurrency technology similar to bitcoin, is designed to offer an easier way for people to store and spend money, particularly those without a bank account and in poorer countries.
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Source: Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook could push deeper into our wallets after coronavirus – CNET
