GREENSBORO, NC -- Apple, Apple, Apple. The iphone is the Marcia of the smartphone bunch. Apple doesn't have the biggest market share. Check out this breakdown from the first quarter of this year. More people use Android devices than all the rest put together.
And yet, Apple gets all the hype. Tech expert Kent Meeker of TechScout is comparing Apple Pay and Android Pay. "Apple was really first in the game .That being the case, they did a lot of the groundwork working with financial companies (banks) and the retail community (stores). Google was able to capitalize on Apples efforts."
Right now Apple Pay is worldwide, Android is currently in the U.S. only. Both use the near field communication chip {NFC) and are secure. Apple has limited online payment support, while android has a much broader field. The most notable difference to Kent?
"Online payments. Google's Google Wallet has been available since 2011 and, because of that, Android Pay is smooth transition into online payments. This is an area where Apple has struggled and will definitely have to play catch up. Google has confirmed as accepting Android Pay with Uber, Groupon, Livingsocial, Domino's, hotels.com, Travelocity, Expedia, and a lot of other vendors. In these cases, the option to buy something using Android Pay will be built into the respective app, removing the nee dot save your card details within the browser or type them out manually. Currently, Apple Pay primarily works in the retail space but has similar in-app payment options like Android Pay. "
Kent adds, "with Android, things are much more open. As long as your Android has NFC and is running Android 4.4 KitKat or newer, you're good to go. Additionally, many of the budget phones and tables like the Nexus 7 have Android Pay capability."
The question we all ask, "is my data safe?"
"Neither service transmits any of your actual data. Instead, there's an extra level of protection where they create a virtual card, meaning the transaction is always really between you and Apple or Google. Both systems also welcome the use of fingerprint scanners as an extra level of device-side authentication."
