Google Sends SMS Mobile Payments: GPay

Google, the company everyone loves to hate, hates to love, and incorporates into their business plan's liquidity event, is entering the mobile payments space. On February 28th, 2006, Google  filed a US patent application for a "GPay Service" enabling private or social payments transactions for goods or   services. Payment One, SmartPay (China), Cyphermint, Altair Financial, Mobile Candy Dish, BankSys (Belgium), Monitise(UK), Obopay, mFoundry, and Firethorn please welcome your new competitor in the space. See my post "Mobile Payments: The Tipping Point" to learn more about the mobile payments space.
What's New Here?   

Nothing Really New Here

There's really not much new with the process as described in the patent application. A G Pay subscriber, pays via the sending of a SMS text message to the GPAy server that clears with the merchant for the amount of the payment. GPay then debits the payor's GPay account, and credits the payment to the seller. As described in the patent application (#20070203836)

"A computer-implemented method of effectuating an electronic on-line payment includes receiving at a computer server system a text message from a payor containing a payment request representing a payment amount sent by a payor device operating independently of the computer server system, determining a payment amount associated with the text message and debiting a payor account for an amount corresponding to the amount of the payment request, and crediting an account of a payee that is independent of the computer server system."  Wherein the method of the claim is via an SMS message.

Large and smaller firms are already in the mix as reflected above, as are patent applications already submitted for the likes of mobile IM transfers of funds, as well. How Google is differentiating from the likes of Obopay and others is unclear. Of course it is Google, so watch this space. If Google was really on their toes, their SMS payments patent would have been accompanied by a Near Field Communications payment system as well. That dual modality would have been really interesting. They can always buy ecrio to get that.