We’ve all heard of Apple Pay. We’ve also seen the moves being made by android OEM’s to introduce a similar payment procedure for android smartphones. Although NFC payments have been able for some time, it seems only recently that they have started to get more use and coverage. That said, things might be about to get a whole lot more interesting. A report from China Business News has suggested that a new payment method is on the horizon and coincidently dubbed ‘Android Pay’.
If you have been long anticipating a move like this from Android then you should note this is probably not (at the moment anyway) coming to a pay terminal near you. The report suggests this is being developed in China for the Chinese market only. That said, it is not any less impressive. China is a dominant world market and the company behind the current move ‘China Union Pay’ is only second in the World to Visa, based on processed transaction value. With that in mind, it will be very interesting to see, firstly, how the system runs and how successful it is and secondly, how many android users adopt the service. Although the application is still in the development stage, reports are coming in that Union Pay have already approached Lenovo and Coolpad (two of China’s largest handset manufacturers) about supporting the app on their smartphones. There is even suggestions that there will be some form of subsidies in place to entice the OEM’s to embrace the technology. Other reports note that Coolpad are already planning one of their high-end 2015 devices to come with the service pre-installed.
Details are scarce at the moment although it is clear that there will be no operational differences between Apple Pay and Android Pay. Like Apple Pay, Android Pay will use Near Field Communications (NFC) technology to offer the payment solution. In terms of when, it is being reported that the technology should land in user’s hands sometime in Q3 of 2015. So what do you think about Android Pay? Do you think it is a good idea? Would you like to see it land where you are? Let us know.