Android Pay Gets US Launch

According to the Android website, Android Pay also provides extra layers of security: tokenization, transaction tracking to consumers can confirm payment and watch for suspicious activity, and, using Android Device Manager, devices can be locked remotely or wiped if they are lost or stolen.

While Apple is getting ready to take on the latest Android phones later this month with the new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, Google is getting set to go after Apple in different field – mobile payments. Users tap and pay at NFC-enabled checkout terminals.

The partner banks of the Android Pay include the US Bank, American Express, Regions Bank, USAA Bank, Navy Federal Credit Union and PNC.

However, the search giant did launch Android Pay in the USA, helped launch a mentorship programme to support women in technology and revealed plans to increase the production of its driverless vehicle.

Google announce in a September 10th posting on the official Android blog that Android Pay will allow retail customers to pay for purchases via their Android phones at more than 1 million locations across the country. Over the next couple of days, it will begin to show up in the Google Play store and should be available to all users in the middle of the week. A four digit pin code, just like at an ATM, will do.

I tried Android Pay at Walgreens and Staples this weekend using a Motorola Nexus 6, which does not have a fingerprint scanner. He was talking about Samsung Pay’s entrance into the mobile payment market, but this was before Google pushed out Android Pay.

Users of the existing Google Wallet app will have it automatically shifted to Android Pay.

While Samsung has this competitive differentiator, it’s not lacking in the capabilities that Google Pay, as well as Apple Pay, now offer.

“Android is far behind Apple in terms of mobile commerce activity, but the catch-up effort here is going to be a big deal”, BIA/Kelsey analyst Peter Krasilovsky told Crain’s Chicago Businessearlier this year. After the card information has been entered into Android Pay, the app will generate a code called a token.

This form of Google Wallet will work on iOS in addition to Android.