Google has launched its payment app, Tez which enables you to transfer money (using UPI integration)/split bill etc.
Which sounds pretty much like PhonePe / Chillr.
The biggest differentiation Google Tez has is the “Pay Nearby” feature – i.e. pay to a nearby Tez user without sharing private details like your bank account or phone number.
Plus, Tez supports multiple Indian languages – Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu.
Note that Tez uses your gmail id as your VPA.
For businesses, Tez enables them to launch their own Business Channels on the Tez app where they can engage directly with their customers to share offers and more.
That is, messaging app as well.
And this is where it gets interesting – Google has failed with all of its messaging endeavors and while this is more of a feature for a business to promote themselves, there is very little utility for consumers (unless you love to be spammed).
Of course, this gets into WhatsApp territory (WhatsApp too is testing its payment service) and seems like an wannabe product.
Google Tez: Too Little; Too late?
Google Tez is great – but I am not sure how is it better than PhonePe (when it comes to feature) or Paytm (when it comes to distribution).
What’s in for merchants to adopt Tez? What’s in for you to adopt Tez? Unless Google tightly integrates Tez with Android, I am not sure how this moves the needle.
To me, it just seems that Google Tez is the new Areo? (that home services+food app from Google which we aren’t using) or Duo (which Google really tried promoting, but couldn’t break through).
As I have said earlier, it’s not the best product that always wins.
India.
Get it
