Google pushing developers to use Google Wallet

Google Inc is trying hard to push its in-house payment service, Google Wallet, as the internet search giant tries to emulate the financial success of Apple Inc's iOS platform, Reuters said yesterday.

The internet search firm is said to be pressuring applications and mobile game developers to use the service and has warned several of them in recent months that if they did not use Google Wallet instead of PayPal, Zong and Boku – their apps would be removed from Android Market, now known as Google Play, Reuters said citing developers, executives and investors in mobile gaming and payment sectors .

According to developers, the internet search giant was trying to simplify consumer payments, hoping apps-buying would rise and offset their higher costs.

Though Google's payment service charges a higher cut per transaction than some rivals', the move however suggested Google was using its powerful position in the mobile apps market to promote an in-house offering.

The report quoted Hugo Troche, chief executive of Appsperse, a cross-promotion network for app discovery, as saying that although the move by Google might seem high-handed, it reduced the friction for purchases inside Android apps and therefore made users more valuable.

Android Market, or Google Play as it is called, is the company's answer to Apple's apps store, where consumers can browse and buy or download everything from games and music to individual software or applications.