For years the ability to spread the cost of a meal, entertainment, heck, even gas payments has been a necessary and frustrating evil. However, the rise of wireless and mobile payments means we now have more options for sharing those costs equally. Google knows the frustrations faced and is adding a “Split a Bill” feature for its Pay platform in Singapore.
The tech firm today unveiled a slew of new features for Google Pay within Singapore – which is acting as a testbed for a number of potential global additions to the mobile payment platform.
Alongside “Split a Bill”, Singaporeans will also be able to use the PayNow system at another two local banks in the region. They will also be able to purchase cinema tickets at Golden Village and Shaw Theaters. This comes with a neat scratchcard reward scheme that can net cashback on qualifying purchases.
With Google Pay you can already browse cuisines and order takeout or delivery with the Order Food feature. Now that restaurants have resumed dine-in services, we suspect the new Split a Bill feature will be particularly useful for requesting and receiving payments after a meal with friends.
Of course, the “Split a Bill” feature is the headline addition to Google Pay in the region. It will allow you to create recurring payees so that the process is streamlined each time you want to share costs.
You’ll even be able to create or “form groups to organize and manage payments” with the ability to “divide bills and other joint expenses” all from one easy to manage place. Google also hinted that the “Split a Bill” option may also come to Google Pay globally in the future but no further details were shared.
Author: Damien Wilde
Source: 9TO5Google
