"India is very much at the start of a big digital payment journey."
India has become a country increasingly reliant on smartphones and their capabilities. Now, they can make digital transactions ‘faster’ using a new Google payment app.
Introduced as Tez, it works in a unique way in that it will use audio to transfer money. The juggernaut tech company unveiled their new app on 18th September 2017.
But while many will marvel at its ingenious, easy-to-use way of payment, how does it work?
The Google payment app contains a new technological feature called audio QR. It enables users to transfer money between each other in a ‘Cash Mode’.
Using sound, Tez can pair two devices together. They then work together to make a connection and identify who is the payer and payee. All using audio that normally would appear inaudible to human ears as they’re sent through ultrasound frequencies.
This means you won’t need to share contact or bank details, similar to cash transactions. In addition, you simply need a smartphone that contains a mic and speaker. Along with the Google payment app installed on your device.
Tez will also allow you to link payment from Indian banks and complete bank-to-bank transactions. The app works with all 55 Indian banks on the country’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Meaning anyone in the country can easily use Tez and begin digital payments.
With simple requirements and an easy method, India’s 300 million smartphone users will surely welcome Tez. The country’s government banned highly valued notes in 2016, leading to an increase in digital transactions.
Indian politician Arun Jaitley described this move as “something waiting to happen”. With digital transactions as “compulsion turning into a habit” and witnessing a peak, he added of Tez:
“I think, over the pace of the next months, it’s going to make a major advancement in that direction.
“Time has come, with an application as simple as this, that what started as a compulsion becomes a matter of convenience and eventually a matter of spending habit.”
Google also spoke on why they chose India as the first country to receive this payment app, describing it as having a “digital ecosystem”. Spokesperson Diana Layfield explained:
“India is very much at the start of a big digital payment journey. [Tez is] modelled around the way Indians interact. The chat-based nature of the app reflects the way in which people think about their conversations and interactions over money.”
Diana also revealed that the Google payment app will be available in 8 languages. In addition, there are no current plans to impose a transaction fee.
Right now, Tez is available to download for both Apple and Android devices. The company also plans to eventually expand the app into other countries, such as Vietnam and Thailand.
If it finds great success, perhaps soon we will all manage our digital payments through a simple app?
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