Google rumoured to be launching mobile payments API at Google I/O

Google’s annual developer conference kicks off a bit earlier than normal this year. The company has confirmed an end-of-May schedule for Google I/O 2015, which isn’t all that far away. As the show draws closer, folks are starting to wonder what the focus will be.

According to a post over on Ars Technica, Google will announce Android Pay at Google I/O this year. Ars cites those oh so wise “people familiar with the matter” in reporting that Android Pay will be a new payments platform for both in-store and in-app payments.

The functionality for the user sounds very similar to Google Wallet (though Ars’s sources say it’s built from the ground up). You’ll have the ability to store credit and debit cards inside an app and can then tap to pay via NFC in-store. The difference here is that third-party app developers will be able to use the Android Pay API to build a mobile payments option into their own apps.

With the launch of Android Pay, Google Wallet will supposedly continue as a separate app and users will be able to connect their Google Wallet account with apps that utilize Android Pay (presumably this means they don’t have to store their credit card and debit card information in two apps).

With Apple Pay already available in the States and Samsung thought to be beefing up its own payments strategy, Google has obviously realised that it needs to get serious about mobile payments. Google Wallet has been available since 2011 but it hasn’t really grown or progressed since. For example, it’s still U.S.-only four years after its launch. The company just signed an agreement with Softcard to ship Google Wallet pre-installed on every Android phone sold through AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. The company also purchased some of Softcard’s technology, though it hasn’t talked a lot about the technology acquired as part of the deal. No doubt we’ll hear all about it at Google I/O.

[source]Ars Technica[/source]