Google Inc GOOG GOOGL unveiled a revamped Android operating system Thursday as well as a raft of new services and features at its developers conference in San Francisco.
Among announcements: revisions to its mobile payments service that Google hopes will rival Apple Inc. AAPL's Apple Pay, and a "buy button" embedded in Google Search results concerning potential retail purchases.
The mobile payment service, which replaces Google Wallet, will soon be accepted at over 700,000 store locations according to Google, including McDonald's Corporation MCD, Macy's, Inc. M and Best Buy Co. BBY.
The company also unveiled Google Photos, a new, standalone product offering storage for personal photos and videos.
The photo service, which replaces Google Plus Photos, offers free, unlimited cloud storage, although it requires compression for photos of more than 16 megapixels.
The "buy button" will give Google Search users the option to purchase without needing to visit a separate website, according to a report by the British Broadcasting Corp.
The company's chief business officer, Omid Kordestani, told the BBC he wanted to reduce "friction" for users so they buy more things online.
The feature may help Google in its competition with Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, but could prove a turn-off to retailers eager to draw customers to their Web sites, according to the BBC.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
