China UnionPay has reportedly decided to launch a mobile payment service named "AndroidPay" for Android smartphones.
According to reports in Chinese local media, several information sources confirmed the new service will reportedly be available in China in the third quarter of 2015.
Several smartphone makers also confirmed the news. Cao Jingsheng, vice president of Coolpad Group, said that the company and China UnionPay have been discussing for over a month and both parties have strong willingness to cooperate, although there is no specific timeline yet. Cao said one of Coolpad's high-end products will support this new service in 2015.
Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the Mobile Phone China Alliance, also revealed that China UnionPay decided to commence AndroidPay last week. He said that the Apple Pay project participated by China UnionPay is expected to start commercial operation in March 2015. When Apple was formulating Apple Pay standards, China UnionPay also participated in the work and is familiar with the process ns now wants to copy it for Android devices.
AndroidPay refers to AndroidPay's fingerprint identification and NFC payment model. However, unlike Apple Pay, AndroidPay will cooperate with Chinese security module manufacturers and has more cooperating partner options. It will also rely on Chinese security and encryption standards.