Google’s Android Pay comes to Canada, taking on Apple Pay as digital wallet use continues to grow

Source: business.financialpost.com --- Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Canadian Android users have a new way to pay for items both in stores and online with their smartphones, so long as they are comfortable with using the technology to do it. Announced Wednesday, Android Pay — Google’s digital wallet offering designed for its Android operating system — can be used with  eligible Canadian Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards, as well as Interac debit cards from supported financial institutions. Google said Android Pay will begin rolling out over the “next several days” for Visa and Mastercard credit cards from Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Banque Nationale, Scotiabank, Desjardins, President’s Choice Financial, ATB Financial and Canadian Tire Financial Services on devices running Android KitKat 4.4 or higher. The company added that support for I nterac-branded debit cards will begin rolling out on Monday, with  support for American Express cards  and Tangerine coming later this summer. “Canada is one of the most advanced countries in terms of mobile payment readiness across the world. That meant Canada was one of those places high on our list of where we wanted to make Android Pay available first,” said  Pali Bhat, Google’s  vice president of payment product, in an interview.  “From having the bank infrastructure and merchant infrastructure to having the right devices in the market, it just makes it that much easier for users to adopt.” [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OueObu2aA_M&w=640&h=390 ...

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