Google Assistant Could Soon Support Payments
According to a report, citing an APK teardown by XDA, Google’s latest version of its app, 6.11.13 beta, has a string of code which the report said could be a sign that payments are coming to Google Assistant shortly. The report said the string of code shows that Google Assistant can handle credit cards and offer direct links to Google support.
“From what we can tell, payments through Assistant/Home will probably be used for delivery services or online shopping. While services like Uber are already supported by Google Home, it seems like these integrations could be used for things such as Google Express Shopping,” the report stated.
The code of string also implies Google Assistant will include shared devices, but it’s not clear what Google may mean by that. The report speculated it could mean Google Assistant will enable payments on a device basis so that only certain phones can access payment choices. That, the report noted, could be designed to prevent kids from ordering things by accident.
In December, aiming to grow Google Assistant at a fast rate just a few weeks after its launch, Google opened its new platform up for developers to create chatbots for the voice-activated personal assistant. Dubbed Conversation Actions by Google, the tools enable developers, companies and third parties to create bots that can answer questions and, in the future, sell things, as well as book reservations, via voice.
In a blog post, Google said at the time: “The Google Assistant brings together all of the technology and smarts we’ve been building for years, from the Knowledge Graph to Natural Language Processing. To be a truly successful Assistant, it should be able to connect users across the apps and services in their lives. This makes enabling an ecosystem where developers can bring diverse and unique services to users through the Google Assistant really important.”
