Google’s Android Pay mobile payments system has arrived in Australia with American Express and Visa cards first off the rank, with MasterCard to be added “in a few days”.
Like Apple Pay, Android Pay uses the combination of NFC and tokenisation to allow a mobile phone to be used in place of a contactless payment card. And there’s a mechanism for in-app payments, again like Apple Pay.
The first round of Australian financial institutions backing Android Pay are American Express, ANZ, Bank Australia, Bank of Sydney, Beyond Bank, CAPE Credit Union, Central West Credit Union, EECU, First Option Credit Union, Goulburn Murray Credit Union, Holiday Coast Credit Union, Horizon Credit Union, Intech Credit Union, Laboratories Credit Union, Macquarie Bank, Mystate Bank, Northern Inland Credit Union, People’s Choice Credit Union, QT Mutual Bank, Queenslanders Credit Union, South West Slopes Credit Union, Sydney Credit Union, Teachers Mutual Bank, The Mac, The Rock, WAW Credit Union Co-Operative, Woolworths Employees’ Credit Union, and Wyong Shire Credit Union.
And “coming soon” are Bank of Melbourne, Bank SA, Bendigo Bank, RAMS, St George Bank, and Westpac.
NAB and Commonwealth are notable by their absence, but both have their own mobile payment apps already (NAB, CBA).
Google’s list of participating institutions will be kept updated.
Early adopters of in-app Google Pay include Catch of the Day, GoCatch, Jetstar, Kogan and Menulog.
The Google Pay app is supposed to work with any non-rooted NFC-enabled Android device running KitKat 4.4 or later. But there are some reports that it is not working with all phones meeting that specification.
