Android Pay is Coming to the UK in the ‘Next Few Months’

| Updated
by Tatsiana Yablonskaya · 3 min read
Android Pay is Coming to the UK in the ‘Next Few Months’
Photo: Prima Business Solutions/Flickr

Google is extending boundaries for its Android Pay that will be soon supported by the largest banks in the UK.

We have to wait for just a while till Android Pay will take equal position with Apple Pay. As for now, the latter wins as more mainstream mobile payments system. Android Pay was launched in the US last September, but it hasn’t spread abroad so far. And Google didn’t provide any information about its global rollout.

However, today Google has good news for Android adopters. It is going to launch the service in Britain in several few months. The search giant doesn’t promise the process to be quick, definitely the spread won’t take place this month.

Although there are a lot of Brits that own an Android phone, they had no chance to use a mobile payments platform. As a result, Google stays at a loss. It appears that despite the fact that Google does have a huge potential user base in the UK, it doesn’t use it. The Brits are already familiar with contactless payments and that makes Android Pay easier to market and, in the process, improve its chances of being adopted.

If you are interested in Android Pay and going to use the system, you just need to link a compatible Mastercard, Visa credit or debit card. In the beginning, the service will work with the cards issued by the Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, MBNA and Nationwide Building Society.

Do you notice that the list lacks one large bank? Right! Barclays, though one of the “big four” in the UK, doesn’t support Apple Pay and seems to ignore Google’s rival service as well. The fact, however, can be easily explained – the Bank is trying to promote its own bPay platform and wearables instead. The list of banks supporting Android Pay won’t stay unchangeable. Google has promised that new banks will be added “all the time”.

Android Pay can be used as a payment method for third-party apps such as Deliveroo, YPlan and JD Sports. It should be a one-tap process with no need to submit personal bank card details every time a user completes a purchase.

So far, Apple has been taking the lead over Google in the UK and all over the world. In February tech giant made Apple Pay service available in China. The customers can now use Apple Pay with cards from 19 banks and several merchants, including KFC, Carrefour, 7-Eleven and McDonald’s. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd has recently announced it will also add Apple Pay support.

“We think China could be our largest Apple Pay market,” said Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay.

However it is necessary to mention that Apple Pay will likely face a high competition from the local online payments providers. The market is currently dominated by Alibaba’s Alipay, Tencent’s Tenpay and WeChat Payment platforms. Besides, some merchants, even the US, are still reluctant to accept money via online mobile payment systems.

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