Android Pay’s Digital Expansion

Not only has Android Pay officially launched in the U.K. today (May 18), but the mobile wallet is also making some serious moves when it comes to the access and availability of its APIs to developers and a variety of new partners.

Google announced today at its IO conference, that it’s working to make it easier for the developer community to integrate Android Pay and bring speedy checkout to apps through the expansion of its APIs.

Pali Bhat, Global Head of Payments Products at Google, posted on Google’s blog that the goal of this expansion is to expand the portfolio of merchants who can benefit from Android Pay – from the very largest to the very smallest – improve purchase conversions within apps and in the browser, and help to merchants engage and acquire new customers.

Bhat said that Android Pay has already been working with a number of popular apps, including Airbnb, Yelp, Eat24, Kickstarter, Ticketmaster, and Uber, and hopes to bring that same in-app experience to all developers, no matter how big or small.

One of the steps to accomplishing this involves the launch of Android Instant Apps, which the company also announced today and are designed to let consumers pay with Android Pay with a single tap. No longer will it require installing an app in order to complete a transaction.

Google has also decided to open Android Pay APIs to any developer facilitating the sale of physical good and services, as long as they are in markets where Android Pay is available. Finally, new payment processors including Braintree, Stripe and Vantiv have also been added that will enable Android Pay integration to take place in just a few hours with 10 lines of code or less.

According to Bhat’s post, there will also be efforts made to reduce the friction and frustration that come from using clumsy Web checkouts on the mobile browser through the launch of PaymentRequest, The new Web API is designed to be standardized across browsers, starting with Chrome, and will enable users to pay on mobile websites as they do in-store and in-app, he added.

“We believe that mobile payments can make for a better, more secure shopping experience – so we’re in this together for the long haul,” Bhat said. “We’re building a robust Android Pay ecosystem, one that’s open and scalable, to enable developers to drive mobile payments – and their businesses – forward. We’re very excited for the road ahead and we hope you are too.”