Android Pay may be on the way sooner than expected
Google may have plans to launch its new mobile payments service, Android Pay, sooner than expected. According to a notice sent to some of Android Pay’s retail partners, such as McDonald’s, employees are being trained to understand what mobile payments are and how to assist customers making such transactions. These notices suggest that Android Pay will actually become available on August 26 or very shortly thereafter, but there is no telling whether or not Google’s new service will find success.
Google has had trouble with mobile payments in the past
Google already has a position in the mobile payments market, having launched its first platform, Google Wallet, some years ago. The Wallet platform experienced a turbulent launch, with some security issues leaving consumers wary of the concept of mobile transactions. Google has been working to improve the Wallet service and it has begun to generate momentum among consumers, but the company may be showing more priority for Android Pay in the future. Google does not have plans to kill its Wallet service, however, and both services are likely to work alongside one another.
Android Pay already has significant support
Android Pay already has significant support in many parts of the United States. Once launched, the service will be accepted in more than 700,000 stores throughout the country. Transactions and financial information will be protected by biometric technology, with a user’s fingerprint serving as the key that unlocks the mobile payments service.
Google will have to fight Apple and Samsung in order to find success in the mobile payments field
Google will be competing directly with both Samsung and Apple, both of whom have their own mobile payments services. Apple has, perhaps, established a more formidable foothold in the market, as its payment service was launched last year and has already attracted significant consumer support. Apple plans to launch its service in the United Kingdom in the near future. Samsung is currently testing its own payment service in South Korea, with plans to launch the service at some point later this year.
Android Pay will not charge transaction fees to card providers
Google has announced that it will not be charging transaction fees on mobile payments made through its new Android Pay platform. The move has to do with competing more aggressively with Apple, who has found significant traction in the mobile payments space. Google will not be receiving a percentage of transactions processed from payment cards, such as MasterCard and Visa, which may make Android pay significantly more attractive to merchants interested in the mobile space.
Tokenization may be the death of transaction fees
Google had initially intended to charge a fee on credit card transactions, as this has become the standard for the mobile payments industry, but opted not to. One of the reasons for this is the growing prominence of tokenization, a security practice that replaces financial information with digital tokens. This practice has been adopted and heavily promoted by both MasterCard and Visa as a way to make mobile transactions more secure. One of the issues with tokenization is that it prevents payment services from charging fees to card providers.
Android Pay may become Google’s default mobile payments platform
In 2011, Google introduced its Wallet platform, which served as the company’s first entry into the mobile payments sector. Google Wallet experienced a relatively rough launch and has struggled to find traction with consumers since. Over the years, Google has been making changes to its approach to the mobile payments market, and the company now plans to launch, making acquisitions to improve its position in the market. In late 2013, Google acquired Softcard, and the company’s technology was used to develop Android Pay.
Downfall of transaction fees may bring more merchants into the mobile payments market
Transaction fees have been a significant challenge for retailers and card providers interested in the mobile payments space. While such fees are nothing new in the world of commerce, the mobile sector is still an unproven market, despite the promise that it shows. As such, merchants are somewhat uncertain about entering in the mobile payments space, expressing concern that this sector may be little more than a passing fancy for most consumers.
