If you’re a resident of Hong Kong or if you travel there often, for business and/or pleasure, you’ll be pleased to know that Android Pay, Google’s mobile payment platform, is now available there. This makes it only the 5th country, after the US, UK, Singapore, and Australia, where you can use your Android device to make purchases at stores with contactless terminals and supported apps as well. The competition amongst other mobile payment services like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay is definitely starting to heat up.
For now, Hongkongers will be able to use Android Pay in more than 5,000 locations around the country. In stores like 7-11, Circle K, Fortress, Mannings, MX, McDonald’s, Pacific Coffee, PARKnSHOP, SmarTone, Watsons, Wellcome, and other stores, you just need to bring out your Android smartphone, wake it up if it’s asleep, place it near the contactless terminal, and then payment will already have been made. You will also be able to use it to speed up the payment process in selected shopping apps and pretty soon, Uber as well.
For now, Android Pay in Hong Kong works with MasterCard and Visa cards from selected banks like BEA, DBS, Dah Sing Bank, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank. You can add as many cards as you want and then just select first the card you want to use in a particular transaction. They are also even opening up the platform to merchants who want to diversify their payment options.
To be able to use Android Pay, your smartphone needs to be NFC-enabled, running on Android 4.4 KitKat and above, and of course supports Google Play Services. If you live in Hong Kong or any of the four countries where it’s available, then you should try it out if you haven’t yet.
SOURCE: Google
