After Apple releases Apple Pay, its biggest competitor Android is now planning to introduce "Android Pay" in China through China UnionPay (CUP).
Reports have said that UnionPay, the biggest credit- and debit-card provider in China, and is also the second-biggest payment network in the world next to Visa, based on the value of processed transactions, is the one developing the Android Pay.
This most likely means that UnionPay could possibly have more partners to support than Apple Pay, which the Chinese bank also plans to support next year.
Want China Times reported that UnionPay has already approached smartphone makers including Lenovo and Coolpad, and is likely to offer aids to smartphone makers to guarantee popular smartphones will have the technology needed for Android Pay to work.
According to Yicai reports, Android Pay is an NFC-based mobile payments service that will be released in the third quarter of 2015, which has the same process as Apple Pay.
In line with this, Google has announced that Chinese developers can now release paid Android apps on the Google Play Store, and will be able to sell their apps to more than 130 countries around the world.
Google Play is the largest digital store for Android users to discover and purchase their favorite mobile app and games, and the ecosystem is continuing to grow globally. Over the past year, we've expanded the list of countries where app developers can sign up to be merchants on Google Play, totaling 60 countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Qatar and Venezuela most recently.
As part of that continued effort, we're excited to announce merchant support in China, enabling local developers to export and sell their apps to Google Play users in more than 130 countries. Chinese developers can now offer both free and paid applications through various monetization models, including in-app purchasing and subscriptions.
Google will pay the developers via USB wire that transfers directly to their Chinese bank accounts.
