Google Adding Bill Payment to Gmail: Report

It's a sure thing that the founders of the Pony Express in 1860 didn't have a futuristic vision in mind of what a digital Pony Express might look like — but Google Inc. reportedly has chosen that branding for its next payment service.

Google is developing a Pony Express bill payment and presentment feature for Gmail users, technology site Re/code reports.

The Google system hopes to differentiate itself from other financial or utility companies that promote paperless billing by organizing the bills in a Pony Express folder and supporting various payment options such as a bank account, card account or possibly Google Wallet, according to the article. The system would also allow a person to split a bill, such as when roommates share expenses, Re/code reported.

Google added a Google Wallet P2P money transfer option to Gmail about two years ago, allowing users to send funds as though they were email attachments.

Google is not the first company to attempt to lure consumers through the promise of a more organized digital bill payment system. Intuit continues to develop its version of in-app bill payment, including photo bill pay, through Mint Bills (formerly Check).