At Google I/O on Thursday, Google unveiled Android Pay, its answer to Apple Pay, and it’s separate from the company’s existing payment platform Google Wallet.
Google describes it as “the simple and secure way to pay with your Android phone,” and that means both in stores and in apps. Here’s a look at some of the partners:
“Things are more interesting when we create them together,” says director of product management Pali Bhat. “So we’ve approached Android Pay the same way we approach every other part of the Android family — partnering with the ecosystem — bringing together mobile carriers, payment networks, banks and retailers to deliver you choice and flexibility. And offering developers an open platform to collectively push mobile payments forward.”
To use Android Pay in a store, you would unlock your phone, place it near a merchant’s contactless terminal, and let it do its thing. You don’t have to open an app. You get a payment confirmation and transaction details on your phone so you know the payment went through.
With participating retailers, loyalty programs and special offers are automatically applied at checkout.
To use Android Pay in an app, you just tap the “Buy with Android Pay” button and that’s that.
“To make it easier for developers to add Android Pay to your favorite apps, we’ve designed our platform to work with any payment processor,” says Bhat. “And we’re partnering with top payments processors including Braintree, CyberSource, First Data, Stripe and Vantiv to make integration even easier.”
Google says you’ll be able to use Android Pay at thousands of stores and apps you’re already familiar with, and you can pay with either your credit card or debit card across multiple Android devices. It’s even partnered with banks so you’ll be able to add your cards directly from the banks’ apps.
Google is also working with carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to make sure all new Android phones are Android Pay-ready.
American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa are all partners, and will help to deliver industry standard security tokenization, Google says. If your phone is lost or stolen, you can use Android Device Manager to instantly lock your device from anywhere, secure it with a new password, or wipe it clean of personal information.
Android Pay isn’t available quite yet. It will hit Google Play soon, and Google says it will provide updates over the coming months.
Images via Google