Google’s Android Pay already handles tap-and-pay transactions just fine, and today the company is launching the other half of its mobile payment platform: in-app purchases. A little over a dozen apps including Lyft, OpenTable, and Hotel Tonight are getting in-app purchases at launch, and Google says many more will be integrating the feature over the coming months — hopefully at the same level of adoption that Apple Pay has seen on iOS. A few partners from the initial list are also offering limited-time deals to encourage users to get started with Android Pay. Google says in-app purchases are just as secure and time-saving as NFC-based payments.
Android Pay is also beginning its international expansion, though on a small scale to start. It’ll launch in Australia “in the first half of 2016,” according to Google, and the company is working alongside financial partners like ANZ and Westpac to prepare for the rollout. The platform will move elsewhere across the globe throughout 2016, according to Google. Elsewhere in mobile payments, Samsung and Apple both announced yet more banks that work with their respective mobile wallets today. So the contenders are set. Now it’s just a race to tally up users and actually attempt that whole “replace the wallet” thing.
