Although no specific dates were given, Google has confirmed that Android Pay is finally going to be making its way to Canadian users “in the coming months.” The announcement was made yesterday at the company’s I/O 2017 developers conference. The move comes as part of Google’s efforts to expand the availability of Android Pay and Canada isn’t the only country that will receive the service in the near future, but Canadians have been waiting for its eventual launch for what seems like a long time. Some users in Canada recently even saw an Android Pay app icon show up on their device temporarily. In fact, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce also launched a page dedicated to Android Pay a while back before taking it down.
The Mountain View-based tech giant also revealed that it is improving on Android Pay’s foundation – which allows users to pay for things both online and in stores. The company is striving to make mobile payments faster, more secure, and generally easier for everybody involved by expanding on its API. The expansion will make Android Pay better integrated into the operating system and will enhance its accessibility, the Alphabet-owned company hopes.
As to which other countries will be seeing Android Pay next, those include Brazil, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan. Although Google stated that it’s working on expanding the availability of its mobile payments platform as quickly as possible, the company left itself a substantial amount of wiggle room with regards to the timeframe for the launch through the rather ambiguous phrasing of the announcement itself. As things stand right now, Android Pay will be coming to Canada and numerous other countries “in the coming months,” though Google has yet to clarify on the matter. With no specific release date given, the launch could really come at any point this year. In the meantime, Canadians have at least one other related launch to look forward to. Google Home will be released in the country this summer, the Alphabet-owned Internet giant confirmed earlier this week. More details on the company’s Android Pay-related endeavors are expected to be available later this year.