Gmail does far more than just communicating with the rest of the world. It also has Google Hangouts integrated within, allowing you to message your friends in your long contact list. With the integration of Google Wallet into Gmail on the web since four years ago, the functionality of this webmail service has grown by leaps and bounds. However, today marks a brand new milestone for Google as a new integration has been released for the Gmail app on Android. Users are now able to make requests or send money to anyone else, including folks who do not have a Gmail address (which is a pretty rare case in this day and age) using a simple tap to get the job done.
This particular user experience has been specially designed in order to facilitate easy monetary transactions. In a nutshell, if you know how to use Gmail to attach a file to an outgoing email, you would be able to send money on the double. Accessing this brand new feature is a snap. All that you have to do is to tap on the attachment icon (which is resembled by the paperclip), select send or request money based on the transaction that you would like to experience, and follow through with the instructions that appear on the pop-up window. From there, you will be able to enter the required amount, and if needed, include a note (i.e. “For mom’s birthday present!”) before hitting the send button.
No transaction or service fees involved
All of the above will happen within the Gmail on Android app itself, without having to install Google Wallet in the first place. To facilitate an easier transaction process for recipients, all that they need to do is to configure it to have money received via Gmail to be sent straight to the respective bank account. Each transaction will be free from any kind of fee charges, now how about that to kick things off on the right note? Something tells us that this might not be the case in the long run, since there could very well be fee charges some time down the road, so why not take full advantage of it while the situation allows it to be so.
With the ability for Gmail on Android to be able to send and receive money, this will surely strike a chord within other service providers such as PayPal, Venmo, and Square Cash. It not only makes transfer of money convenient, especially when you are dealing with a vendor via email. Imagine replying the email for the confirmation of a dinner reservation or pet boarding services. From there, just send cash over within the Gmail on Android app itself. This saves you some more time, compared to quitting Gmail, launching PayPal or an equivalent payment service, and performing the transaction from there.
I believe that Google is banking on the wide reach and popularity of its Gmail app to make this a success. It should be a matter of time before this functionality is extended to Gmail on iOS, as well as for other territories since it is limited to just the US at the moment.
