While the card issuers are not yet confirmed, the wide availability of contactless terminals in the United Kingdom should certainly be an incentive for major banks to take advantage of the service, whose Apple analogue has proven to be successful and constantly rising in use.
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Android Pay has been available in the U.S. since a year ago and now it looks like the mobile payment service is getting ready to launch in the UK. According to Industry sources, the company is expected to roll out Android Pay next month.
Android Pay works by linking to your credit or debit card, and then when you open the app on your phone and hold it to a contactless payment terminal, the money is automatically transferred. Android Pay was still not off the ground as it waited for Android 6.0 Marshmallow to arrive and offer mobile payments by simply using the fingerprint sensor for authorization. But Android Pay found some success in with its USA launch back in September, so is poised to rollout the service in the UK.
Mobile contactless payments are progressively becoming more and more mainstream as major manufacturers adopt systems that can be easily used via our smartphones.
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Analysts have predicted that the total spending via mobile payments will increase more than 40-fold in the next two years, albeit from a relatively low starting point. The bank has its own similar service on Android device where users can just swipe their mobile devices in the supported store and make the contactless payment.
