Android Pay is real, get ready to carry your cards in your phone

Rumours of Android Pay have now been upgraded to official as Sundar Pichai, Google's SVP of product, has announced Android Pay is coming.

As suspected Google has opted to create an API for Android Pay. This will mean third-party developers should be able to easily integrate that into their apps and systems.

Android Pay will work using NFC and will eventually also be compatible with biometric sensors like fingerprint readers for security.

Pichai mentioned Samsung's recently announced Samsung Pay system and said Google will want to work alongside this to see how the two products can integrated.

READ: Samsung debuts Samsung Pay: What is it, and how does it work

Android Pay will use the token card number system that others like Samsung has opted to offer. This will mean that should a crook manage to get your Android Pay account compromised they will only get a one-time-use number that's not worth anything.

Further details have not emerged at this early stage but it doesn't sound like Android Pay is not going to replace Google Wallet. Rather it will likely work alongside it as an extra layer of controls. It sounds a bit like how Chromecast can be added to third-party apps using just a singe line of code. Android Pay should be integrated in apps for one-touch payments online as well as in store.

READ: Android Pay could kill off the real-world wallet, at last