Google Wallet Paving The Way for a Better Alternate to Paypal in Pakistan

October 5th, 2015 - Karachi, Pakistan.

With Facebook already sweeping away advertiser interest from Google, the search engine giant had to step in the game. Products after products seemed to had been developed in the past, among which many had been ridden off to focus on possibly more lucrative services for the growing markets in both developed and under developed countries. Some popular examples include: Google Health (2008-2013), Google Wave (2009-2012), Google Buzz (2010-2011), Google Answers (2002-2006), Google Notebook (2008-2012).

However, like Zig Ziglar said, "Each failure brings you one step closer to success."

Google did continue to release a number of pilot projects which seemed to be more enticing for the masses and full of potential for the company. Among these projects there came Google Wallet on May 26, 2011. Google Wallet was set to limited markets for sending and receiving money on the internet. Adopted by few early eCommerce stores and service providers, it seemed to be a fruitful venture though growth seemed slow with so many early adopters of services like Paypal, Payoneer and direct merchant accounts.

Today, however, this little baby "$" appeared on my screen when I was set to compose an email. 


The curiosity nonetheless brings one to clicking on the highlighted pop-up bubble which leads to this:


and then this:


For a second, it seemed that all the troubles of not having Paypal for payment services may have just gone away. Unfortunately, the billing address for the debit card to send money lists the option for United States and the United Kingdom only. But atleast getting these options here in Pakistan, could possibly mean this may soon be available for the Digital Media industry that is growing rapidly in the country. 



Google Wallet has been around for some time, with a US only limited customer base. Taking it to the emerging Asian markets would definitely be a good move for the company overall especially now that Facebook has once again started promoting its own video upload shelf with the autoplay feature and ad placement for videos. A technique that seems to be aimed at taking away share from Youtube, the largest video streaming site and second largest search engine alternative to Google itself.


Now, we can only hope and wait till we see the options to use credit cards and debit cards or simply connect our bank account to Google emails for local and offshore transactions. Till then, lets keep our fingers crossed and keep monitoring the internet!