Android Pay Could Make Dent in Mobile Payment Universe

In the see-saw battle for mobile payments dominance, Google may have just tipped the scale back in its favor. The search giant is getting deeper into the mobile payments business with Android Pay, which it announced on stage at its annual Google I/O developers conference on Thursday. The service isn't exactly like Apple Pay, even if these products now share the same initials, but it soon will be. Just like Apple Pay, it will — when it arrives later this year — include fingerprint recognition with NFC readers and credit card tokenization for physical yet touchless mobile payment transactions at hundreds of thousands of retail outlets. Android Pay will launch with loyalty and gift cards integrated. Google highlighted how a user could buy a Coke with Android Pay at a vending machine, which was conveniently placed on the Google I/O stage — and then collect Reward Coke Points and use Android Pay to buy another Coke with those reward points.