Google might be launching Android Pay this week

Google is expected to start rolling out its mobile payment service, called Android Pay, in the United States later this week. According to a notice sent to employees at a number of McDonald’s restaurants in the US, Android Pay will be available for customers to use from 26 August. Like Apple Pay, Android Pay will allow people to pay for items in more than 700,000 stores in the US using their mobile phones, after linking their credit or debit card to the new service. Identity verification is provided via the phone’s fingerprint scanner, just like Apple’s Touch ID. McDonald’s and Macy’s were slated as two of the places where Android Pay would be available first. The McDonald’s notice, which was first spotted by Android Police, urges employees to review the training materials to remind themselves of the service procedures, which it describes as “the same as with Apple Pay”. The notice also states that Samsung Pay, which is Samsung’s rival mobile payment service, will launch on 21 August. This is in fact incorrect – Samsung Pay will launch in Korea next month, as well as in the US a few days later.