Google Rolls out Android Pay in US

Google has decided to answer Apple for mobile payment service “Apple Pay” with its “Android Pay”. Apple Pay received a good response by users. Now it’s time to put Google’s Android Pay to test. The two apps are similar except that they work on different platforms. On Samsung smartphone devices it will be introduced along with Samsung Pay. Using the app people will be able to make purchases by a simple tap of their phone on the payment terminal of the retail store. The store can then charge the user’s credit or debit card. Google isn’t new in this field. Remember Google Wallet? It was the company’s first attempt and it didn’t work out well mainly because of two reasons. Firstly there weren’t enough compatible devices and secondly there were not many wireless carriers to work with. Later AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon put their efforts together to develop “Softcard” which also could not gather much attention. The Softcard was acquired by Google and now it has combined Google wallet with it to produce Android Pay.

There couldn’t be any better timing for Google to release Android Pay since the Apple Pay has already did enough work to make retailers aware of the technology. Now retailers won’t have any trouble accepting Android Pay as they already have compatible equipment.

Android Pay has been made available on Play Store since Thursday. However, some users will have to wait for some time to get compatible version for their devices. The app will also be available on devices from the Softcard partners i.e., AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. Users in South Korea have been using Samsung Pay since August 20. Samsung plans to expand it to U.S. starting September 28. Apple Pay was launched last year in the month of October in U.S. alone and was expanded to U.K. this June.

Now what advantage does this has over the usual plastic cards? We all will agree that taking out phone is more convenient than taking out cards from wallet. It becomes more easy when you are say surfing internet while standing in the queue. The biggest advantage offered here is of security. You might ask how? Well, when you use this app you get an alternate card number that is unique for your phone. This substitute number is used by the stores. In case, the system is hacked, your real card number isn’t compromised. The trick behind this is that you will require to enter one – time password that will be generated by your phone. So, for hackers to steal your data will also require them having your phone.

The downside is that it might not always work because till many retailers don’t have the required equipment. Samsung Pay has an advantage here that comes with its back up mechanism. In case it doesn’t work, the phone is also capable of mimicking the magnetic signals produced by cards and is therefore able to work with existing equipment. But it also has limits.