On the back of rumours of an update coming to Google Wallet, it seems that another payments system could be on the way from Google, this time centred around Android.
According to an article from Ars Technica, the new system, called Android Pay, will be built from the ground up for Android Developers. Android Pay will allow developers to more easily access and integrate on Near Field Communication (NFC) payments made using Host Card Emulation (HCE), which Google first introduced in Android 4.4.
Android Pay will operate with Google Wallet, extending APIs to developers to build in payments systems for companies using in-store payments in bricks and mortar stores à la Google Wallet and Apple Pay in the US, as well as easily incorporating NFC payments in the form of in-app payments in third-party apps.
The new system will apparently be announced and demonstrated at Google I/O in May, but rollout and implementation details aren’t yet known. Whether this system would rollout in a US-only capacity as we’ve seen with Google Wallet, is something we’ll have to wait to find out.
