Android Pay is poised to get an official launch later this Summer, and while it may be a sort of revamp of Google Wallet which is Google’s current mobile payment solution, there are glaring differences between the two which will help Android Pay become more successful than Google Wallet has been this entire time it’s been available. Android Pay, according to Google, will be accepted at 700,000 or more physical retail stores in the U.S. at launch and will also be compatible with 1,000 mobile apps. Those are good figures to start with, but that isn’t what’s going to be setting Android Pay apart from Google Wallet and driving it forward. The big thing which is likely to make the most difference is the backing from major U.S. carriers.
With T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T on board Android Pay will get a preinstallation on devices after its official launch, which is going to make it much easier for users to engage with it. The process of having to go to the Play Store and search for and download the app will be taken away. Customers won’t have to work as hard to become acquainted with the app which may give Android Pay a better shot at being used by more people.
Google’s former executive who oversaw the start of Google Wallet, Osama Bedier claims this one detail to be the thing which will help Android Pay become a major player in mobile payments to help not only mobile payments becoming big for the Android platform, but help to shape mobile payments and make it a major thing period. This is of course in addition to the other major competing companies looking to get in on the ground floor, Apple and Samsung, both with their own respective mobile payment solutions. Google also gained the Softcard technology as part of the agreement with the major carriers, which has also helped to fuel the advancement of Android Pay. Carriers have huge influence, so getting them to support a mobile payment solution was a huge piece of the puzzle as Google saw it. Now that it’s been acquired, Android Pay can move in the right direction with plenty of speed, something which Google Wallet was never really afforded.