Google is offering a new mobile payment service, involving credit and stored payments methods in Android smartphones, plus hooks to loyalty cards and special offers.
Because it provides an alternative, low-cost mobile communications service, Google Voice is often compared to both Skype and Vonage though each is based on slightly different technology.
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Google Wallet is the first mobile payments service to really show promise in adding capabilities like the above on top of a base payment platform by bringing their ecosystem of local services like Google Places and Offers into the fold.
It increasingly looks like Google will announce a new mobile-payment service for its Android devices tomorrow.
The mobile ad service will let Google draw analysis from consumers' phones, as well as their computers, and enable the company to provide insight on which display ads are most effective and which delivery formats perform best.
On unveiling the mobile payment service in May, Google said it would trial the product immediately and launch in summer.
These people also said the download store would be an "interim" step toward what is expected to be a more ambitious cloud-based subscription service compatible with mobile phones built with Google's Android software.
Even with T-Mobile service, the device is only available from Google.
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The Skype mobile service launched March 25 on nine Verizon BlackBerry and Google Android phones.
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Most notably, an update to Apple's mobile operating system has replaced Google Maps with an Apple-designed map service that many users say is less accurate or even omits locations altogether.
Google's service remains a much richer platform, with additional useful features, mobile apps and support from third-party apps and services.
Skype, which is planning an initial public offering, also has a paid service offering low-cost calls to landlines or mobile phones, similar to Google's new plan.
Perhaps the best perk of using Google Voice is its voicemail message transcription service, which allows you to read messages from your mobile phone in text form.
Apple used to have Google Maps as a default app on the iPhone, but removed the service in the update to its mobile operating system iOS 6, in mid-September 2012.
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