Google launches Android Pay in Australia

Google has joined Apple and Samsung in the local market, partnering with ANZ and Macquarie.

Google today launched Android Pay in Australia, with ANZ and Macquarie the first banks on board.

Following the local launch of Apple Pay last year and Samsung Pay earlier this year Google has now joined the fray, letting users pay for things with their Android phone or tablet at any contactless terminal.

Google’s global head of payments products Pali Bhat told The Australian over 60 per cent of Australian card holders had made a contactless transaction, making it the perfect market for the tech giant.

“I do think we’re at a tipping point for mobile payments in Australia. Android Pay will give Australian users a way to use their Android phone for payments everywhere and we think a lot of people will be using it,” he said.

“Australians really love their technology, they adopt in droves. They’re the earliest adopters anywhere; Australia jumped to the top of countries we wanted to bring Android Pay to.”

He said businesses across the country with contactless terminals won’t need to do anything else to be able to accept Android Pay in-store.

Aside from in-store purchases Google has partnered with a number of app developers including Catch of the Day, Deliveroo, Domino’s, EatNow and Hotel Tonight, enabling users to checkout in apps using Android Pay.

Mr Bhat said customers currently with ANZ, American Express, Macquarie, MyState Bank, and Teachers Mutual Bank could use Android Pay. Facilities with Bendigo Bank and ING Direct would be coming soon.

Android Pay uses tokenisation security to generate a unique number for each purchase so customer card details are never shared with the retailer.

“Being the first major bank in Australia able to offer Android Pay is another important milestone for ANZ as we work to build the best digital bank for our customers,” ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott said in a statement.

“Given Android is the most popular smart phone operating system in Australia, we know today’s announcement will be well received by both our retail and merchant customers.”

The payments system uses a phone or tablet’s Near Field Communication chip and users can enable security through the phone’s fingerprint scanner or drawing a pattern on their screen.

It’s compatible with Android devices with the KitKat operating system or later, and is available from today as an app in the Google Play store.

“I’m really excited for this launch,” Mr Bhat said.

“We’ll keep iterating on this and making it better and better in true Google fashion — this launch is the first step. For us the launch is just the beginning, we want to be partnering with all the players in Australia, and getting feedback from Australian consumers on how we can keep making this better.”