Google is looking to make it easier for Android Pay users to pay in more places on the mobile web.
In a Monday blog post, the company announced it has entered into new strategic partnerships with major financial players Visa and Mastercard to enable Android Pay on “hundreds of thousands of new sites.”
According to Google, the new partnership will leverage fingerprint authentication to allow mobile customers to use Android Pay where Visa Checkout and Masterpass are accepted.
Google said the tweak will benefit both consumers with easier and secure payments as well as merchants with faster checkout times, fewer abandoned carts, and increased sales. The new integration is expected to become available in early 2017, Google said.
The move comes as competition increases in the mobile payments space between players like Samsung, Apple and Google.
Earlier this month, Apple and Samsung both launched their mobile payments services in Russia within days of one another. For Apple, Russia marked its 10th market. Samsung Pay is currently available in seven countries, including the United States, South Korea, and China, with additional launches in Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom planned for later this year.
Android Pay last week launched its service in Hong Kong, adding the region to a market list that also includes the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore.
But Android Pay’s move to broaden its appeal to include web users in existing markets isn’t unprecedented.
Back in June, Apple introduced Apple Pay compatibility for the web via its Safari web browser on Mac. Using the company’s Continuity feature, Apple allowed users to authenticate transactions at checkout using their phone’s fingerprint sensor.
