Google, Inc. officially announced Android Pay at the Google I/O conference Thursday, a service that will take the good fight to rival services from Apple, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

The new service, pitched as offering “security, simplicity, and choice,” combines two forms of payment in one: contact point of sale payments using Near Field Communication (NFC) and in-app purchases.

Android Pay will support payments from a variety of different financial service providers, and the initial partner list is impressive; on board for the launch are Chase, Citibank, Capital One, U.S. Bank, Discover, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Navy Federal Credit Union, PNC, Regions, and USAA.

Along with support for payments from the accounts users already have, the app also supports loyalty cards. As Google explains:

For example, when you tap to buy a Coke at a vending machine, your MyCokeRewards will be automatically applied. With Android Pay the contactless terminal not only receives your payment info, but also your loyalty programs and offers.

Everyday use

Google has made the Android Pay use experience nearly as easy as the tap and go services currently provided by Visa and Mastercard; all users have to do is unlock their phones, then tap for payment, with no need to open up the app to complete the transaction (it would be presumably running at the time.)

Within supported apps (there is said to be 1,000 that will support it at launch) all users have to do is tap “pay with Android pay” to make a payment, and details such as a shipping address will also be auto populated within the given app where physical goods require shipping.

The app is said to “soon be accepted at over 700,000 store locations” within the United States, although it should be noted this is more likely a reflection of outlets that support NFC/ tap and go at the point of sale (POS) versus any special deal Google has made, particularly given Mastercard and Visa being partners with the app.

Good offering, but…

Android Pay is definitely a step forward for Google, and will see it compete properly now with Apple Pay, however it’s still not nearly anywhere as good as what Samsung offers with the Galaxy S6, which we’ve previously referred to as a killer app.

The problem isn’t so much the intent versus a laggard United States retail sector that trails the rest of the Western world when it comes to NFC POS support; Samsung’s Galaxy S6 supports payment using technology that allows the phone to communicate with legacy magnetic stripe card readers, meaning it pretty much works with any outlet that takes credit cards.

Android Pay will be available in the United States with the final release of Android M possibly later this year, and versions will be made available for Android versions starting from KitKat (4.4) and upwards.