Android Pay comes to Europe but underestimates France

Android Pay is coming to several European countries. Google’s smartphone payment app is already available in Ukraine and the Czech Republic and will soon be available in Slovakia as well. The service is available in Brazil as of November 14, 2017. On the other hand, there is no news for France, which is also waiting for Samsung Pay and Huawei Pay.

Android Pay in France, not for now. The smartphone payment application was released on November 14, 2017 in the Czech Republic and Brazil. It’s an important day for Google as its service will be tested in South America for the first time. As for Europe, Android Pay was already available in Ukraine since November 1st. Even the country’s finance minister, Oleksandr Danylyuk, was the first to use the app. Google said Spain and Russia also have the service earlier this year, and the service will launch in Slovakia “soon.”

Still no Android Pay in France

But why are you targeting these countries specifically? Google explains itself in part in a blog post. “Contactless payment is not new in Central and Western Europe. In fact, it’s the norm in quite a few places. With Android Pay, we wanted to make it easier for locals to leave their wallets at home, where they know and love.” For Brazil, it looks like Google doesn’t want to be left far behind in a huge market of over 200 million. Samsung Pay has been available here since July 19, 2016.

Still no news for France. It must be said that the reception for Apple Pay at launch should not have been helpful. Android Pay will gradually roll out to more countries with no calendar announced. Canada accessed the service on May 31, 2017, followed by Taiwan the next day. Google seems to prefer a certain geographic and cultural disparity to test its app. This could be bad news for France, as Spain adopted Android Pay in June 2017. While we wait for Samsung Pay and Huawei Pay, there is no possibility to pay with a smartphone in France.