MONEY

Android Pay Is Google Wallet, Upgraded

We suspected that Google would announce about a new payments system at I/O, and we were right. Google just confirmed Android Pay, an API that will help businesses allow customers to make payments from their credit cards within a mobile app.

Android Pay is partnering with over 700,000 stores, from Best Buy and Gamestop to Macy's and Bloomingdale's to Whole Foods and McDonald's. Google says they'll work with major cards (Visa, AmEx, Discover, MasterCard) and major phone companies (AT&T, Verizon, T Mobile).

To use, Google says just unlock your phone like normal, place it in front of the data-slurping terminal, and boom. Payment complete. A virtual account number is created; your card number isn't shared at the store.

Plus, Android Pay will work with other apps like Groupon and Grubhub, which will offer the Android Pay payment option to users as they make their purchases within the Groupon or Grubhub app.

The writings for this announcement were on the wall: Earlier this year, Googleacquired mobile payments app Softcard, and there had been rumors about a revamped Google Wallet. In this world of Venmo lovers, digital payments systems are getting more and more popular for individuals, and companies also want give that option to their consumers. Other big tech companies are on the scene, too, not just Google. Apple has Apple Pay, Samsung has Samsung Pay. Even Facebook now allows person-to-person payments-in chat threads!

Android Pay is just the latest of systems that are poised to permanently change the way people shop and fork over their hard-earned cash.