In a Google blog post, Vice President of Product Management for Payments Pali Bhat described this as more of a rebranding than a change to the underlying products or technology. He said the products being brought together include Android Pay(Google’s mobile payments and loyalty platform) and Google Wallet (its peer-to-peer payments app).
Over time, this should make buying and paying through Google less confusing — if you’ve saved your payment information in your Google account, you don’t have to worry which app to use to access that information, because it’s all under Google Pay.
“With Google Pay, it’ll be easier for you to use the payment information saved to your Google Account, so you can speed through checkout with peace of mind,” Bhat wrote. “Over the coming weeks, you’ll see Google Pay online, in store, and across Google products, as well as when you’re paying friends.”
For starters, when you make a purchase from Google, or from partner apps and stores, you’ll start to see Google Pay as an option. Initial partners include Airbnb, Dice, Fandango, HungryHouse and Instacart.
“Google Pay provides a simple, intuitive option for Fandango customers to speed through checkout with just one tap,” said Mark Young, Fandango’s senior vice president of global strategy & business development, in a press release. “We look forward to working with Google as they grow this exciting new payment platform.”
To promote the launch, Google is also offering special discounts when you buy something via Google Pay from B&H, Fandango and Instacart.
