Android Pay Developers' Platform Coming Soon: Google

A Google executive has confirmed the company has established Android Pay, a previously rumored platform upon which developers can build payments into applications.

Google senior vice president Sundar Pichai mentioned Android Pay on March 2 during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, reiterating that the platform operates for app development, not as a separate mobile wallet.

Android Pay allows developers to create in-store apps and in-app payments for third party applications, while supporting Host Card Emulation, a technology that bypasses the secure element on a handset for contactless Near Field Communication payments.

As Host Card Emulation evolves, its providers view the technology as one that will soon include merchant loyalty and rewards program redemption at the point of sale at the time a consumer initiates a transaction.

Word of Android Pay began filtering through technology sites last week, speculating that Google would unveil its new developer tool at its I/O conference in May.

It marked a busy week for Google, as the Android Pay leak was quickly followed by competing mobile wallet Softcard revealing that Google had acquired Softcard technology in addition to Google Wallet becoming the pre-installed payments system on new Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T Android phones.

A few days later, Softcard informed its users that the Softcard Wallet app would be turned off soon, at a date to be determined.