Google is rolling out Google Pay, a unified payment service that combines Android Pay and Google Wallet.
The the payment service, payment information are saved in users' Google account, and can be available everywhere they use Google products. For example, in Chrome for web purchases, in YouTube for renewing subscriptions, in apps on Android for in-app purchases, and at retail outlets with NFC payments.
At first glance, Google Pay is basically a redesign of Android Pay, with the look and feel that implement more Google's Material Design guidelines than the original.
The app is sorted into two segments. The 'Home' tab shows recent payment activities, nearby local offers and stores, as well as other information using Google's card-style interface. The list is personalized, based on previous stores where users have used the service, as well as their location. Then there is the 'Cards' tab where users can place all their individual credits, debits, rewards, and gift cards.
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Google’s VP of Product Management for Payments, Pali Bhat, said that the team behind the project wanted to make it extremely easy for people to get started with Google Pay, and use the service to pay for goods online and in real world.
For this particular reason, Google Pay introduces as little friction as possible.
For developers of online apps or websites that want to support Google Pay, they can simply call a Google API to see whether a user has Google Pay enabled, and then accept the payment through the app.
"We give developers a very simple API to implement Google Pay," said Bhat. "The API is simple because we are not processing that payment. We just securely pass the credentials to whoever is doing it."
Google has plans for Google Pay in a long run. The company promises that the service is similar to Android Pay that integrates heavily on Android and other Google products, allowing users to use their payment methods stored in Google across a wide variety of apps and websites.
Initially, according to Google, apps like Airbnb, Dice, DoorDash, Fandango, Hotel Tonight, HungryHouse, and Instacart are already support Google Pay, with more are set roll out soon
The company has also rebranded the Google Wallet app for sending and requesting money as Google Pay Send, and updated the design to match the rest of Google Pay.