Google stole a bit of the thunder from Finovate Spring 2013 when it announced yesterday — at its I/O event very close by in San Francisco — that it was enabling Gmail users to send money using just their email accounts. In the late 1990s a friend asked me, “Why can’t I just email you the money?” Well, it only took fifteen years for the future to arrive. But wait, haven’t Gen Y’s stopped answering their email? Maybe they will now.

There is integration with Google Wallet involved, so it remains to be seen if this will leave iPhone users high and dry and demand a response from Apple.