Google has decided to levy fee on instant payment, starting from the US market.
A few days back, Google rolled out a highly revamped version of its payment app Google Pay in the United States. But, it doesn’t come without a few drawbacks which the Alphabet-owned tech giant quietly slipped in. Besides, the move also indicates that Google may introduce all the features to worldwide users based on the response received in the US market.
First, with the arrival of all the new features in Google Pay app, the web app is heading towards an immediate death in 2021 along with the old version of the mobile app.
Google Pay Web App Will Be Gone!
The previous version of Google Pay enabled users to send payments along with managing their payment methods via pay.google.com. However, now that the new version has officially started rolling out, Google has decided the web app must go.
When the URL is accessed, one can spot that the tech giant has slapped a warning message which notifies users about the site not functioning starting from January 2021. Thus, starting from the next year, one can only avail payment facilities via the new Google Pay mobile application exclusively even though one might still be able to manage their payment methods on the web app.
Now, next comes a feature which might sting the existing users of Google Pay, but not by a very long shot.
Google Pay To Levy Fees On Instant Money Transfers
Google Pay allows users to transfer money out of a bank or debit card for free. However, now that is going to changing starting from the upcoming year as well.
There now exists a 1.5% fee or a minimum of $0.31 (whichever is higher), on any transfer that Google Pay users make using their debit card. Take note that the same won’t be applying for transfers from a linked bank account which usually takes far longer than a debit card (close to 1-3 days).
Google Shifting Gears To Aggressive Monetization?
These recent changes in pricing and accessibility that comes with the newly launched version of Google Pay in the U.S is not a standalone event. If noticed carefully, one can observe that Google’s focus has slowly been shifting towards a more aggressive form of the freemium model altogether.
As we reported earlier, Google has been making similar changes in their other product offerings which will take effect from 2021 as well.
For Gmail and Google Drive, the alphabet owned giant reported that users that they need to be active across these products consistently or they might risk getting their data wiped away. And in the case of Google Photos, quite like the payments app, Google announced that the feature would no longer be free as the company has observed a widespread usage of the same.
Google Pay is no different. With the addition of new features and new charges on money transfer, Google has hinted at the larger game plan that it have drawn to take on its competitors.
So, now the question that arrives here is – do we as users, who have so long been accustomed to considering Google’s products will be free forever, need to finally embrace the fact that we’ll soon have to start paying for their offerings?
What are your thoughts about it? Let us know in the comments section down below. We will keep you updated on all future developments. Until then, stay tuned.
