With Apple Pay bursting onto the scene, it basically meant that there was one more mobile payments provider that other companies had to compete with. Then there were rumors about Google possibly acquiring their competitor Softcard which later turned out to be true and if you’re a current Softcard user, you might want to take note of this.The company has recently announced that come 31st of March, they will be shutting down and cease their operations. “We are pleased to let you know that Google has acquired technology from Softcard to power the next generation of mobile wallets. What does that mean for you? As of 3/31 your Softcard app will no longer work. You can continue to use the Softcard app until 3/31. After that your Account will be closed.”
While this might have a slight interruption in terms of your usage, you can rest easy as it basically means that you will just need to transition into using the Google Wallet app instead. Once you get that up and running, you should be good to go. Google’s acquisition of Softcard also means that they have landed themselves a deal with US carriers that backed Softcard and will now see Google Wallet preloaded on all Android hardware.
This will undoubtedly give Google a slight advantage over Apple Pay and future mobile payment service providers. So if you have yet to download the app, you should probably go ahead and do so via the Google Play Store.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, Google Wallet and Softcard.