Google is anticipated to stir the mobile payment service industry in the United Kingdom as it is set to launch Android Pay within the country this March.
Apple Pay is currently the only available mobile payment service in the UK but with more than half of the smartphones that are sold in the UK running on Android, it is apparent that there is a large potential for a service provider for those using Android devices.
"Google's rival to Apple Pay will make its British debut at the end of March, as the web giant attempts to muscle into the emerging mobile payments industry," The Telegraph reported on Sunday. "Google will announce that Android Pay will be available in Britain from the end of next month, industry sources said."
By linking their credit or debit card to the mobile app, shoppers can use their smartphone instead of paying cash or taking their credit card from their wallet when making a purchase using Android Pay. Consumers pay for their purchases by waving their smartphones in front of a contactless payment terminals at store checkout counters.
Studies have shown that one in every four consumers in the UK prefer to make contactless payment in stores.
UK is a good battleground for players in the mobile payments industry given the country's high take-up of card payments and the availability of contactless terminals. The country is also anticipated to be a major market for Android Pay as 54.2 percent of mobile phones that were sold in the country during the first quarter of 2015 run Android.
Besides Apple Pay, Android Pay will face another competition as Samsung Pay is also expected to debut in Britain this year.
Android Pay made an earlier debut in the U.S. in September 2015. To date, there are over a million retail stores in the U.S. that are equipped with point-of-sale registers accepting Android Pay.
Adoption of smartphone payments, however, is more popular in the UK than in the U.S. In 2015, British consumers made nearly 1 billion "contactless" purchases in stores. The Android Pay UK debut is seen as a big step for the fledgling digital wallet.
