We have recently been hearing whispers that Google has a new payments initiative up its sleeve for which it also acquired Softcard. Today the company has finally confirmed Android Pay. Google’s Sundar Pichai explained that Android Pay is not a service itself, rather its an “API layer” which will enable other companies to support secure payments on Android both online and at brick and mortar locations.
Sundar Pichai was speaking today at the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona. There he also talked about the company’s plans for a new wireless carrier and its work with Titan Aerospace, a company it acquired last year.
As far as Android Pay is concerned Pichai said that the aim really is to allow other people to build a payments service on top of Android. “So, in places like China and Africa we hope that people will use Android Pay to build innovative services,” he said.
He didn’t go into much detail about Android Pay but did mention that NFC will play an integral part while biometric sensors will have a role as well.
Pichai also clarified that Google Wallet will continue to operate as a separate service, one that would come to rely upon Android Pay’s framework, Google’s recent acquisition of Softcard has already paved the way for Wallet to be pre-installed on devices from major carriers in the U.S.
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