Yesterday when Android M was officially announced, Google also announced that Android Pay is a new feature that would launch alongside of it. For those who missed the announcement, basically Android Pay is a mobile payments service that users can use to make payments at retail outlets with their mobile device.
Now if you’re thinking that this sounds very similar to Google Wallet, you’re not mistaken but at the same time, how can two similar services exist side-by-side? Or is Google planning on doing away with Google Wallet? Well for those who are fans of Google Wallet, you can rest assured knowing that Google Wallet will not be going away. Instead the service will see some of its features changed in order to have it function as a completely separate app and service.
Instead of Google Wallet offering up mobile payment services, it seems that the app will now act as a means in which you can send and receive money from other users, like a digital wallet as its name seems to suggest. So if you and your friends eat out together often, you or your friends could use Google Wallet as a way to pay each other back without physical cash being involved in the transaction.
This is a feature that is currently available in the Google Wallet app, but moving forward Google has highlighted that this will be the main (and possibly only) focus of the app. The new version of Google Wallet is also expected to be released later this year but no specific dates have been mentioned.
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