Google Takes New Stab at Mobile Payments With Android Pay
An Android mascot prior the start of the Google I/O Annual Developers Conference in San Francisco on May 28, 2014.
Photographer: Michael Short/BloombergGoogle Inc. has been trying to make its mark in mobile payments since 2011 without much success. Now, the Web company is betting that a new feature called Android Pay will help it challenge Apple Inc., which entered the fray last year.
Android Pay, which will be available later in 2015, turns any smartphone application into a wallet that can be used in physical and virtual stores. Shoppers can buy goods in stores by tapping their phone on a payment terminal in about 700,000 U.S. locations and in over 1,000 apps including car service Lyft, David Burke, vice president of Android, said in a presentation at the Google I/O developer conference Thursday.