It seems Singapore is turning out to be the new location for testing the efficacy of various mobile payment systems. After the recent launch of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay in the island state, Google has now made its Android Pay available in this country, the company's third market after the United Kingdom and the United States.
Google Pay is currently available in Singapore, and users can avail the mobile payment system at stores accepting contactless credit card payments. Now, Singaporeans able to load Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards from six banks, including DBS and Standard Chartered, onto their android smartphones, CNET reported.
Despite being a small country, Singapore is the seen as an ideal battlefield for these existing three payment systems to test their respective services. This is largely owing to the high access of mobile phones and a vigorous telecom infrastructure that is among the fastest 4G LTE networks globally.
Google chose Singapore as the third market for Android Pay owing to the country's extremely "high rates of smartphone penetration" in addition to an established retail sector; Forbes quoted Pali Bhat, Senior Director of Product Management at Google, as saying to media persons at the launch. People with Android smartphone running no less than version 4.4 KitKat plus having near field communications (NFC) capabilities can use Android Pay.
Android users can get started by downloading the Android Pay app from the Google Play store, and subsequently load their preferred cards onto the phone via a streamlined authentication process. After the cards are loaded, users will have the choice of opting for their default card as well as various different payment settings. However, unlike Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, Android Pay does not require fingerprint scans.
According to Google, Android Pay is more secure compared to using actual credit card because Android Pay does not share the user's actual credit or debit card number with the merchant while making payments. Moreover, if someone's phone is lost or stolen, they can immediately lock their device from anywhere using Android Device Manager.
The Mountain View tech titan has claimed that they have partnered with several thousand retailers including 7-11, McDonalds and NTUC Fair Price supermarkets with a view to provide the requisite vigor to Android Pay launch in Singapore to draw the maximum number of Singaporean consumer.
Watch how to use Android Pay below: