1 million US Retailers for Android Pay - Why Samsung Pay Alliance with Asus, HTC, Lenovo and Xiaomi is coming

Android Pay is finally on the move, at least in the US of A. 

The company that now lives under an Alphabet umbrella has recently signed up some 1 million retailers in the US of A to use their payment Wallet Android Pay as reported in the article “Google's Android Pay mobile payments service arrives in US”, published September 10, 2015 by Richard Nieva and Ben Fox Rubin, CNET News. 

This list includes a few notable companies as reported in the article “Android Pay, Google’s Apple Pay Rival, Arrives Today”, published 11.09.2015 by Sarah Perez, Techcrunch that Jamaican and American shoppers will instantly recognize:

1.      Best Buy

2.      Macy’s

3.      McDonald’s

4.      Subway

5.      Toys R Us

6.      Walgreens

7.      Whole Foods

This is Google's second time around, after being first to rollout the service as Google Wallet only to now be playing catch-up with Apple Pay.

Interestingly, the first place you might see Android Pay being actively used is in their new same day Grocery Delivery service as reported in the article “Google to test same-day grocery delivery service”, published September 8, 2015 by Richard Nieva, CNET News.

Announced in May 2015 at Google I/O 2015 as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Android M, Android Wear, Android Pay and Cardboard VR are the stars of Google I-O”, Android Pay is now able to store Gift Cards and Loyalty Cards and support the four (4) major Credit Card Payment Networks:

1.      American Express

2.      Discover

3.      MasterCard

4.      Visa

Currently Android Pay will use NFC as the means of conducting transactions and will work on the most recent operating system in the wild, that being Google Android 4.4 KitKat as reported in the article “Google takes on Apple with Android Pay”, published 10 September 2015, BBC News.

Apple Pay is Growing Strong - Android Pays’ Main Rival is not Apple Pay

Google also plans to add support for payment to Apps as well, which implies they may also be going the route of supporting Bitcoin as an alternative form of currency to gain an advantage over Apple Pay.

Apple Pay, their main rival, has expanded to some 250,000 retailers and some eight (8) banks in the UK and is in the process of negotiating with Lloyd's one of the most popular banks in England as reported in my blog article entitled “250,000 merchants in Britain accept Apple Pay - Why Bitcoin is more secure as Eight banks except HSBC and Lloyds on the Bandwagon”. 

Rumours have it that they're still in negotiations with two (2) banks, HSBC and Lloyds with whom they are said to be really close to completing a deal as reported in “Lloyds Bank is getting close to supporting Apple Pay in the UK”, published 2015, September 4 by Lucy England, Business Insider UK.

Android Pay will also be coming as a part of Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which launches on the Google Nexus on Tuesday September 29th 2015 as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Google Event on September 29th 2015 to launch Nexus running Marshmallow”. 

But as much as this is exciting, Google problems with the Mobile Wallet world are just beginning to come to light.

1 million US Retailers for Android Pay - Why Samsung Pay Alliance with Asus, HTC, Lenovo and Xiaomi is coming

Google’s real rival isn't Apple Pay, despite the headlines.

It's actually Samsung and their Payment Wallet Samsung Pay as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “Samsung Pay supports NFC, MST with KNOX Security for Merchants and Banks”. 

This as Samsung Pay supports both NFC (Near Field Communication) and a new proprietary technology called MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission), both of which are baked into their new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “How Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus Keyboard Cover Nostalgia wins Applause”.

Samsung Pay is currently restricted for now to Samsung Galaxy smartphones and their ecosystem of products.

However, there is the possibility exists that they could make an alliance with other smartphone makers to have their proprietary Samsung KNOX hardware and software built into their smartphones as argued in my blog article entitled “Google Android M is Marshmallow - Why LG, Motorola, HTC, Xiaomi might switch to Samsung Pay in AI Awakening in 2016”. 

Then they could take on both Apple Pay and Google, a possibility that's very likely as many smartphone maker aren't too please with Google's ad and App Store profits made from their Android OS while they only get paid for the sales of their hardware.

A cut from Samsung Pay transactions, one can reason, could entice OEM like Asus, HTC, Lenovo and Xiaomi to side with Samsung at the prospect of continuously making money from their smartphones long after they've been sold.

Added to the fact that Samsung Pay proprietary MST Technology is backward compatible with older Magnetic Strip readers, many OEM's may join sides with Samsung in an Asian Smartphone Pay Wallet war again Android Pay and Apple Pay.

Here’s the link:

Android Pay

Apple Pay

Samsung Pay