Google makes impulse shopping easier on iOS with Google Wallet 'Instant Buy'

Last month, Google released its Google Wallet “Instant Buy” API for Android apps. Now the technology is available on iOS.

Google says 97 percent of online shoppers abandon their carts once they have to enter their personal information. The Instant Buy service attempts to streamline the buying process so that consumers don’t have to fill out their shipping and credit card information every time they shop — making impulse buying that much easier.

It’s unclear, however, if Google Wallet can actually streamline checkouts in a meaningful way — and how could it, without winning over users? Google faces steep competition in the payments space from both Square and PayPal, and adoption of Google Wallet snagged after the company bet on NFC.