Yesterday Android Pay officially launched, Android Pay works on all Android Phones that are NFC compatible and running KitKat 4.4+. It will work on all payment terminals that accept tap and pay technology and will also work on all payment networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover).
Personally I’m more excited about Samsung Pay as that will be able to be used at all payment networks, as it works on magnetic strip terminals as well. There are two reasons I’m interested in Android Pay:
- Credit card issuers will likely offer promotions to entice cardholders to add their cards (we’ve already seen this with Apple Pay)
- Discover might launch a similar 10% cash back bonus they just launched with Apple Pay
Ok, so I guess that’s only really one reason but still. The reason I’m hopeful about the Discover promotion being extended to Android Pay is that a). it makes sense if they want to capture market share in the mobile payments market b). this Twitter exchange with @walletswallet & @discover:
Even if the Discover promo doesn’t come to Android Pay, the increased competition should force Apple Pay and in the future Samsung to up their offerings. As more people start to use mobile payments, we can expect the incentives that credit card issuers offer for adding cards and making purchases will also increase.
