Google Launches Android Pay In Poland

Google announced Thursday (Nov. 17) that its Android Pay service which enables contactless mobile payments with Android mobile devices, is live in Poland.

According to Google, Mastercard cardholders in Poland now have another way to make secure payments wherever Mastercard contactless payments are accepted. Google noted that Poland is the first country in central and eastern Europe and only the second country in Europe after the U.K. to launch the Google payment method. Currently, the service will work with Mastercard cards issued by Alior Bank, T-Mobile Banking Services and Bank Zachodni WBK. Other banks will be successively deploying the Google service, the company said in a press release.

“Our MDES technology, enabling Android Pay, provides Mastercard cardholders with convenience and security. We are happy that Google has chosen Poland as the second European market to launch the service. Thanks to a high market share of Android OS in Poland and highly developed payment infrastructure, our country has a huge potential to widely adopt the technology in a short time, as was the case with contactless payments,” Bartosz Ciołkowski, country manager of Poland for Mastercard Europe, said in the release.

Payments made with Android Pay use tokenization technology, which is provided by Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES). The technology, said Google, ensures the highest level of security. When setting up a mobile device for Android Pay, Mastercard generates a digital token that is associated with that one device and is stored on a server that is secured. There is a separate token assigned to each of a consumer’s devices. When shopping, merchants get the token, not the credit card number.

“With the launch of Android Pay to Alior Bank and T-Mobile Banking Services cardholders, we are introducing one of the most advanced mobile payment solution[s]. We always actively participate in innovative projects, which bring the real benefit to our customers. We care to provide our cardholders with solutions that meet their expectations in terms of functionality, safety and convenience,” said Wojciech Sobieraj, CEO of Alior Bank, also in the release.