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Android Pay makes Asian debut in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Android Pay, which launches in Singapore on Tuesday, is the latest mobile payment system after Apple Pay and Samsung Pay to join the battle for a share of consumers’ e-wallets.

SINGAPORE — Android Pay, which launches in Singapore on Tuesday (June 28), is the latest mobile payment system after Apple Pay and Samsung Pay to join the battle for a share of consumers’ e-wallets.

Making its debut in Asia here, the platform allows consumers who have Android devices running on the KitKat 4.4 (or newer) operating system and equipped with Near-Field Communication (NFC) chips to pay via their mobile phones at an extensive list of more than 280 brand merchants here, such as supermarket chains Cold Storage and Sheng Siong, electronics store Challenger, and various food and fashion outlets. Later this year, the platform will also be available on mobile apps such as Deliveroo, Grab, Peatix and Zalora, among others, saving users the trouble of entering payment details for each transaction.

Android Pay may be used by customers who have MasterCard and Visa credit or debit cards from major banks here, such as DBS Bank, POSB Bank, OCBC Bank, UOB and Standard Chartered. There is no limit to the number of cards that can be added to the platform.

To pay, a user just needs to “wake” his or her phone — without having to unlock it — and hold it towards the payment terminal. For each successful purchase, the user will get a notification on the phone with the transaction details. This is unlike Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, which require users to scan their fingerprints for activation. As a security measure, Android Pay users will receive a prompt to enter their passwords before every fourth transaction. Android Pay also plans to go beyond payments to include other services such as enabling consumers to accumulate loyalty points and offering location-based offers, a novel move that Forrester market researcher Ng Zhi Ying says is “poised to shake the market”.

Apple Pay took the lead in the mobile wallet market here when it launched in April. Samsung Pay, which launched in June, is accepted at almost 40 retailers here.

Major banks in Singapore have reported a rise in the adoption of contactless payment methods among customers. DBS, for instance, saw a 50 per cent increase in contactless transactions among its credit card users and a three-fold increase among its debit card users since it started adopting mobile payment systems.

However, Ms Ng said that mobile payments remain a “nice-to-have” feature and have yet to play a crucial role in influencing consumers’ buying decisions. “While the use of mobile payments is increasing in Singapore … There is still some way to go before we see a fully integrated digital wallet that enables seamless payment experiences for all consumers in Singapore,” she said. 

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