Google Casts a Wider Net for Payments
Google has a new plan to become a bigger player in payments. The search engine and web marketing giant said that it’s enabling merchants and developers to “turbocharge checkout conversion” by making it easier for consumers to use the credit cards and debit cards stored with Google.
The change comes via the new Google Payment API, through which merchants and developers can install payment options on their own websites. The program reflects the fact that many consumers store payment card data in multiple Google accounts, the company said.
“Users will have multiple Google payment options at their fingertips, like a credit or a debit card previously saved via Android Pay, a payment card used to transact on the Play Store or a form of payment stored via Chrome,” Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’ s senior vice president, ads and commerce, wrote in a blog post. “And they’ll be able to use these saved payment options in third-party apps and mobile sites, as well as on Google Assistant when they are on-the-go.”
The move comes as Google’s Android Pay strives for more popularity among fans of mobile payments. Android Pay has some 24 million users, up 100 percent from last year, according to Juniper Research. But rival Apple Pay has some 86 million users, up 91 percent from last year. Samsung Pay, meanwhile, has 34 million users, up 89 percent.
Meanwhile, Paybefore sister publication Banking Technology reports that users of Android Pay who use Google Chrome for mobile Web browsing can now pay online using their PayPal account details and fingerprints, a process that removes the need for usernames and passwords.
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