Mobile Payments Push

With the release of Android Pay today, the momentum of mobile payments (tap-to-pay to be more precise) continues to grow. One of the biggest downsides about the release of Android Pay is that it is restricted to certain credit card issuers (e.g. BoA, PNC); in the Google Wallet, it worked with nearly every card. (Update: Looks like cards that users have in their Google Wallet will be grandfathered into Android Pay, for now... It was a pain to verify all my cards again. Update: My Citi Forward wasn't able to be part in...) Hopefully the new branding of Android Pay pushes users to start using mobile payments more often.

(The mobile applications API aspect of Android Pay will be available later on in the year)

Discover has significantly influenced the mobile payments movement by offering an extra 10% purchases made using Apple Pay. If you read a previous post I wrote about Discover's reward, you may be receiving double rewards for the next year or so. Essentially, this makes the Apple Pay rewards into an extra 20%. Keep in mind, this is an extra savings, so the usual 1% and quarterly 5% are still received. Meaning you could potentially get 30% back in rewards if you use Apple Pay at a qualifying quarterly 5% retailer. Those are huge savings!

Hopefully Discover announces something similar for Android Pay...

Android Pay looks good! Some credit cards took more steps to verify than others.

I'm really excited to see mobile payments move forward! Walletlessness here I come!