Android Pay Is Dead; Long Live Google Pay

Google has rebranded its Android Pay mobile payments platform, enfolding it within the umbrella of ‘Google Pay’.

It is the most important move yet in Google’s effort, initiated last month, to group all of its digital payments tools under a simplified Google Pay brand. The company is also working on integrated Google Wallet, its peer-to-peer money transfer service, into Google Pay, but for the time being has rebranded that component ‘Google Pay Send’.

Despite following hot on the heels of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay’s entry into the nascent mPayments market, Android Pay never quite gained the market traction seen by its rivals, both of which use the biometric authentication mechanisms of Apple and Samsung devices to add security to their transactions. While both Apple and Samsung have been reticent about exact figures pertaining to the profitability of their platforms, they have both recently exclaimed about the adoption rates they have seen for Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, while PayPal has also reported a booming mobile business as it has continued with its own incursions into this area. Google evidently still wants a piece of that pie, and Google Pay represents its latest bid to get it.

The Google Pay app launched this week with a user interface redesigned from the previous Android Pay iteration, and boasting of functionality with transit systems in Portland, London, and Kiev. Ultimately, Google says, the Google Pay platform is going to find its way into all of Google’s products, from its Chrome web browser to the AI-powered Google Assistant.

Sources: The Verge, Tech Crunch, Venture Beat