Android Pay to launch this week, say leaks

We’ve all been waiting for Android Pay to officially launch and it could be as soon as 26 August, in the US at least, if details from McDonald’s prove to be true.

The McDonald’s notice, which was first spotted by Android Police, urges employees to review the training materials to remind themselves of the service procedures, which it describes as “the same as with Apple Pay”. Samsung Pay will launch on August 21 and Android Pay will launch on August 26. For example, the actual launch date of Android Pay in McDonald’s stores could be different from what the leaked memos have revealed.

“Android Pay will power in-app and tap-to-pay purchases on mobile devices”, mentioned Ben Popper from The Verge. There is now no word about when Google might roll out Android Pay beyond the U.S., if indeed there are such plans. Samsung Pay went live in South Korea on August 20.

Samsung Pay also only works in-store, not online.

To recap, Android Pay was announced 3 months ago at Google I/O, and we haven’t heard much about it since then. “This would also suggest that as the Watch gains market share it will have a significant impact on the payments processing industry”.

The rumor begins and ends with the notice of a few postings at various McDonald’s restaurants which convey the changes coming to McDonald’s mobile payment solutions, describing what Android Pay is and how customers will be able to use it, as well as what employees will need to do. According to Apple, contactless payments provide a faster and more secure payment alternative to the magnetic-stripe-based card system used by the vast majority of retail outlets.

Heads up, Android users.