What's New in Payments

One in ten young US adults have used Apple Pay to make an in-store payment

Mobile payments survey: Apple Pay leads Google Pay in usage and interest among Millennials and GenZ in 2018 — Dealspotr — “In-store, a surprising 11% of Millennials and 10% of GenZers have used Apple Pay to pay for items in the checkout line. Apple Pay (10%) was significantly more popular than rival payment platforms such as Google’s Android Pay (4%) and Samsung’s Samsung Pay (2%)… 15% of Millennials and 15% of Generation Z have used Apple Pay to pay when shopping online (vs 9% and 9% for Google Pay).”



What's New in Payments

Commonwealth Bank of Australia adds support for Samsung Pay

Samsung Pay now available for Commonwealth Bank customers — Commonwealth Bank of Australia — “Commonwealth Bank customers will now have access to Samsung’s contactless payments platform, Samsung Pay… Today’s announcement follows CBA’s partnership with Google in November to offer Android Pay on compatible devices at almost 800,000 stores across Australia. CBA customers have also been able to make payments on the go with Fitbit and Garmin’s new payment-enabled smartwatches.”


What's New in Payments

Google Pay replaces Android Pay app starting today

Say hello to a better way to pay, by Google — Google — “Longtime Android Pay fans, fear not: the features you love aren’t going away. You’ll still get all your bank’s perks and protections, plus an extra layer of security, since Google Pay doesn’t share your actual card number when you pay in stores… And more features are coming. If you live in the US or the UK, you’ll be able to use it to send and request money within the next few months.”


What's New in Payments

Google to bring payments to Android Messages texting app?

Android Messages v2.9 prepares to launch Allo-like web interface, Google-enhanced chat features, and payments to businesses [APK Teardown] — Android Police — “Some new text in the app indicates that Google is going to angle Android Messages to also support purchases. The theme of the new strings is fairly unmistakable, including common consumer terms like ‘checkout and ‘order summary’. Another key clue is the activity where these are displayed, which is named messaging.ui.businesspayments.PaymentsSummaryActivity.”


What's New in Payments

Line Pay tops mobile payments adoption poll in Taiwan

Line Pay top mobile payment system in Taiwan: Survey — Focus Taiwan — “25.2% of respondents who used mobile payment systems favoured Line Pay, ahead of Apple Pay provided by Apple Inc which was used by 17.9% of those surveyed. The survey found Jko Pay provided by Taiwan’s Jkos Network Co came in third, taking a 10.9% share, followed by Android Pay operated by Google Inc with 9.9% share, and E Sun Wallet provided by E Sun Commercial Bank with 5.2%.”


What's New in Payments

Over half of US consumers are now using a P2P payments service

US consumers and debit: Shift to online may inhibit use — Mercator Advisory Group — “57% of all respondents and 78% of young adults aged 18 to 34 use person-to-person payment services such as PayPal, Venmo, Google Wallet, Facebook Messenger, and others accessible online and in-app by mobile devices and nearly half of them use a P2P service at least once a month.”


NFC World

Mobile payments drive 60% growth in demand for NFC phones in Russia

In Russia, booming sales of smartphones that support contactless payments — Vedomosti (translation) — “Demand for them is being driven by the emergence of payment systems from Apple, Samsung and Google. Sales of smartphones that support contactless payments using NFC technology (near field communication), in 2017 compared to 2016, grew by 60% in Russia… Over the past year in Russia, about 8.3m such devices were sold.”



Transit Ticketing Today

Trimet to roll out world’s first integration of transit ticketing card with Android Pay

Portland-Vancouver’s Hop Fastpass partners with Google, becoming the first virtual transit fare card available within Android Pay globally — TriMet — “TriMet and Google are teaming up for a first — making Hop Fastpass the first virtual transit card available in Android Pay starting early next year… In December 2017, a select group of TriMet, C-Tran, and Portland Streetcar beta testers will be able to load a virtual Hop card into Android Pay — giving them the ability to tap their phones to pay for their fares and receive all the benefits of a physical Hop card.”


What's New in Payments

Google reports 12m Tez mobile payments users in India

Google for India: Building India-first products and features — Google — “Our India-first mobile payments app Tez has seen huge growth in its first 10 weeks. Tez has processed over 140m transactions from nearly 12 million active users. There are more than 525,000 merchants already on Tez, using it to take payments, pay their suppliers or transfer money to employees… In the coming weeks, Tez will start rolling out a customized experience to pay bills right in the app. More than 70 billers will be supported, including utilities and direct-to-home service providers.”


What's New in Payments

Google promotes Android Pay with Justice League bots

Unlock your superpowers with Android Pay and Justice League — Google — “If you use Android Pay today, you’re in for a surprise. Like our beloved animations of space explorers, Halloween haunts, and Wimbledon players in the past, five of our Android bots have channelled their superpowers to become Justice League Super Heroes in celebration of the movie… You’ll have the chance to collect Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg or Aquaman when you pay in stores.”



What's New in Payments

Android Pay to let users track all their card purchases?

Android Pay appears to be testing the ability to see all card purchases, even those not done on your phone — 9to5Google — “The Android Pay app appears to be testing out a new feature for ‘full purchase history’. In short, this new feature pulls your entire transaction history from your card and displays it right alongside Android Pay purchases. This new setting on Android Pay appears to only work for specific cards, though. In this first case, it works with an American Express Cash card.”


What's New in Payments

Android Pay goes live in Ukraine

Android Pay in Ukraine — Pay for your purchases in just a few seconds — Google Ukraine (Translation) — “We are pleased to announce that Android users in Ukraine can now not only search and receive information at the right time with the Google app, optimize their Google Maps routes and enjoy various apps on Google Play, but also quickly and securely make purchases offline and online using Android Pay… Today, Android Pay in Ukraine only works with Mastercard and Visa cards issued by PrivatBank, but the list of banks will be constantly replenished.”


What's New in Payments

Google reports 7.5m users of its Tez audio QR mobile payments app

Edited transcript of Alphabet earnings conference call — Yahoo Finance — “To help millions of people, we are building products specifically designed for local markets in Asia. In India last month, we launched Tez, a mobile payments and commerce app that already has more than 7.5 million users who have made more than 30m transactions. I’m really excited about the potential this brings for India’s mostly cash-based economy.”




NFC World

Google drops NFC Smart Unlock due to ‘extremely low usage’

Google reveals why it killed NFC Smart Lock in Android — BetaNews — “It recently came to light that Google had killed off NFC Smart Lock in Android — without telling anyone. Now the company has come clean about just why the feature was given the chop. Google says that ‘in the case of NFC unlock, we’ve seen extremely low usage,’ adding that there are now many more ways of unlocking Android devices. But while Google points to features such as on-body detection, fingerprint scanning and Trusted Places, fans of the missing feature say that none of these are comparable.”