Android Pay becomes….wait for it….Google Pay. In order to combine their mobile pay branding platforms, Google Pay becomes the unifying brand name for both Android Pay and Google Wallet as the following article explains.
Google is finally unifying its payment services into one head. The company announced Google Pay today, which is a combination of Google Wallet and Android Pay. The service allows people to use payment information saved in their Google account on any Google product, including Chrome for web purchases, in-app purchases on Android, renewing YouTube subscriptions and even for NFC payments on brick and mortar stores.
The company says apps like Airbnb, Fandango, Dice, HungryHouse and Instacart will also allow Google Pay usage. More stores and websites will be adding support for Google Pay soon. That means if you have a Play Store gift card right now, it will become part of your Google Pay account instead. Similarly, your credit or debit cards will also be seen on Google Pay itself, and be used on NFC payment systems that support the service. The service will even allow you to pay friends, meaning it competes with Apple’s iMessage payments as well.
“With Google Pay, it’ll be easier for you to use the payment information saved to your Google Account, so you can speed through checkout with peace of mind. Over the coming weeks, you’ll see Google Pay online, in store, and across Google products, as well as when you’re paying friends,” the company wrote in a blog post.
This is not an earth-shattering development. Right now, we do not see any process or technology change based on this announcement, and view it as simply a way to make the Google brand more consistent and uniform across platforms and channels. Similar to Amazon and Apple, the Google name is highly recognizable to both merchants and consumers alike, so this eliminates any cross-branding identification with Android. Some consumers may think this is a totally new payment platform, but in-store mobile payment usage is low anyway, so the largest potential impact will be with online sales and that’s where Google is trying to compete against Amazon, PayPal and the card networks.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Associate Director, Research Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group