Android Pay launches in Australia with ANZ and American Express on board

Following on the heels of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, Google's own mobile payments platform Android Pay launched in Australia Thursday.

It kicked things off with ANZ as its major banking partner. Already available in the U.S. and UK, Android Pay launched in Singapore in June.

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ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott called the partnership a "big step forward for ANZ."

From Thursday, ANZ customers can use either an ANZ Visa debit or credit card, or an ANZ American Express credit card with Android Pay. Android Pay can also be used with American Express-issued cards, among other partners.

Any Android device with a Near Field Communication chip should support Android Pay.

The bank is also working actively to get Mastercard on board, said Katherine Bray, general manager of deposits and payments at ANZ. "We can't specify a date, but it will follow quickly," she told reporters during an online press conference.

Thanks to Australia's high rate of smartphone penetration, Google is particularly excited to bring Android Pay to Australia, said Pali Bhat, Google senior director of product management. "Australia is one of the most advanced landscapes for mobile payments," he said, "all the way down to retailers putting in the infrastructure of mobile and contactless payments."

ANZ also supports Apple Pay in Australia. Elliott noted that Android devices are the most widely used locally, but said the bank wanted to be able to suit all its customers. "Our customers use different devices ... so we want to be device agnostic," he said.

Currently, Apple Pay supports ANZ American Express credit cards, Visa credit and debit cards and American Express-issued cards. Samsung Pay is working with American Express and Citibank.

In addition, ANZ will continue to offer its own ANZ-branded mobile wallet, ANZ Mobile Pay. "Some people have strong brand-affinity for their banks," he said. "We also know there's a massive market out there who love their Android device and the Android experience."

Despite launching with only one major banking partner, Bhat said Australians can expect other institutions to be signed up shortly. "We're going to partner with all the large, and medium and small banks in Australia," Bhat said. "We don't have a timeline to announce today, but stay tuned.

"This is not just about bringing more partners on board ... it's about having deep partnerships that give Australians innovative solutions."

In December, Google announced it would be heading Down Under with ANZ, Westpac, Bank of Melbourne, Bendigo Bank, Macquarie Bank, and St. George as partners, among others. While not launching Thursday, Westpac, Bank of Melbourne, Bendigo Bank and St George are "coming soon," according to Google's blog post.

While neither Google nor the bank were able to comment on any commercial arrangements, such as the sharing of interchange fees, Bhat said Google's goal is to make mobile payments as simple as possible. "We're not focused on those type of requirements at this point," he said.

The banks and their technology partners are yet to share mobile payment uptake numbers, but Elliott said the bank's collaboration with Apple Pay has so far been successful. Particularly, he noted, its use has not been confined to millennials making small payments. "Last I checked, our oldest user was 88-years-old," he said.

In Bhat's view, mobile payments are still in their infancy. "We're still so early in the market right now, we're in the first ball of the first over," he suggested. "Once consumers adopt mobile payments, it's a very sticky thing ... I see this as a tipping point for mobile payments."

Elliott agreed: "This is a really long game, and there's a long way to go. This is just the beginning."