All-Knowing Google to Roll Out Geographically-Triggered Shopping Alerts An update to Google Now will notify users on their smartphones when they are in close proximity to a store carrying an item they've previously searched for.
By Geoff Weiss
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
On the heels of the announcement that Google Shopping Express is expanding same-day delivery in New York and Los Angeles, the search giant has announced a new mechanism that digs deeper yet into consumer browsing habits.
A new update to Google Now introduced yesterday will notify U.S. users on their smartphones when they are in close geographic proximity to a store carrying a product they've previously searched for on Google.
Google Now is an intelligent personal assistant program available on both mobile and PC platforms that is Google's answer to Apple's Siri -- or Microsoft's newly-announced Cortana.
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While walking through a mall, for instance, "a Google Now card showing you the product and price to remind you that you wanted [it]" will pop up. Such notifications would even surface offline, Google explained in a blog post.
And in addition to browsing, the company is also looking to simplify the payment process -- by reportedly bringing Google Wallet to its forthcoming Google Glass. The company is testing a way for users to send money to friends by simply vocalizing the command to Glass, according to TechCrunch.
"Imagine you're at a restaurant and you want to send your share of the bill to a friend," describes the report. "You simply ask Glass to "send money,' swipe through the interface a few times and you're done."
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