Just a day after launching in Canada, Android Pay has expanded to another new country today. Taiwan has now been added to the list of 13 countries where you can use your phone to tap-and-pay for products & services. While it is good news for Taiwanese and for Android Pay in general, it does have some pretty significant limitations in the country. Namely, at launch, the support of only two banks.
CTBC and First Bank are the only two banks that are supporting the service today but Google indicates in their post that other banks like EnTie, Hua Nan and Shin Kong are coming soon to the service. Adding those three major banks would bring the service to a significantly larger number of users. This limited bank support also puts them behind Apple Pay which is currently supported by 7 banks in country.
Like the banks, retail selection is also limited at launch in Taiwan. Watsons, CrazyMikes and i3 Fresh are all able to take payments but other large retailers like Honeybee, KKDay and Momo are all listed as “coming soon”.
If you are a member at one of the supported financial institutions, all you need to do is download the Android Pay app from the Play Store and associate your credit or debit card with the service. Then, in a retailer, you can hold your phone above the pay terminal to initiate the transaction.
Two things to remember. First, Android Pay is very secure. Your actual card number is not transmitted (a virtual one) and you have to approve the purchase. It can’t be done by itself accidentally. Second, the technology in Android Pay and Apple Pay are the same. Here in the United States, I rarely see Android Pay stickers as a payment option but do see Apple Pay ones everywhere. But, because the technology is the same, it works regardless.
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