Android Pay now available from Play Store, time to split your payments into 2 apps

In all of the excitement about the new Chromecasts yesterday we missed a semi-important milestone. Android Pay  can now be downloaded at the Play store meaning it is now the de facto way to pay for goods and services offline with NFC readers.  The new service in recent weeks brought heavies like McDonald’s, Citibank and Wells Fargo.

In a strange and head scratcher “Google Reader” type move, Google decided to split the online payments (Google Wallet) with its offline payments (Andoid Pay) services to two apps. Perhaps that Wallet is an iOS app while Android Pay will never be is a reason for the split. Sure, I’ll take another app on my phone with a side of confusion, especially at the moment I’m stressfully taking out my phone and rolling the NFC dice …and the 10 people behind me in line don’t have to wait any longer for this bolted together payments system to work.

Oh, I notice that I have to re-enter all of my cards into Android Pay like I never set them up in Google Wallet so that’s a nice added kick in the teeth to get my Saturday started.

Where’s my coffee!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAlFCjOlRrM