First, there’s Apple Pay then there’s Samsung Pay and now, say hello to Android Pay, a new mobile payment system by Google. At MWC 2015, Sundar Pichai, an executive from Google, just announced this new mobile payment framework and it will be available as an “API layer” to allow other companies to use it.
Google already has a Google Wallet mobile payment system that has been around for years, but Android Pay is a separate service. It will work much like how Apple Pay is working now in the U.S., allowing users to use NFC to make payments with their phone, and will eventually support biometric sensors as well. Sounds familiar? Well, Pichai said that it isn’t a service to rival Samsung. Pichai mentioned that the two companies are on a “different timeline” and would work together to see how to align them.
Sadly though, that’s all Sundar Pichai said at MWC 2015. He did however, mention that Android Pay will offer similar features to its rivals like the ability to link up to a standard Visa, MasterCard and American Express bank cards, and a verification module like the use of token numbers.
“We are doing it in a way in which anybody else can build a payment service on top of Android. So in places like China and Africa, we hope that people will use Android Pay to build innovative services.” – Sundar Pichai.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Google will at least launch it in Malaysia.
