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Android Pay in the Google works

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 03 Mar 2015
Google Pay will initially only offer near-field communication compatibility.
Google Pay will initially only offer near-field communication compatibility.

Mobile World Congress 2015: Google is working on Android Pay, which it wants to develop into a backbone for mobile payment solutions.

Sundar Pichai, senior VP of products at Google, told delegates at Mobile World Congress 2015 that the payment solution would be an API layer that would enable wallets to work across platforms.

As a result, said Pichai, wallets like Google's would be clients for the payment provision service. "Anyone can build a service on top of Android Pay."

In January, news emerged that Google may be looking to buy "troubled" mobile payments company Softcard. TechCrunch and CNBC cite people familiar with the matter, saying Google is considering buying the company - started by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile in 2010 - for under $100 million. Pichai did not speak to this speculation.

Pichai said the system would also be interoperable with other functionality, such as biometric sensors, that would allow for secure confirmation of payments. He noted Google would start with near-field communication (NFC) technology before building out other interoperability.

Samsung on Sunday evening announced Samsung Pay would be available in its latest Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge devices. This allows the phone to be used as a payment tool anywhere a MasterCard or Visa card is accepted, as it is not limited to technology such as NFC, said CEO JK Shin.

Pichai noted Samsung's move is a "great announcement" and conceded the handset maker, which uses Google's Android OS, is working off a "different timeline".

He expressed hope that the two companies could work together in the payment field to try and align their systems.

Samsung rival Apple announced its payment platform last September, but it has so far met with resistance from US retailers.

* Nicola Mawson is in Barcelona courtesy of Samsung.

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