Great article! My thoughts on how the Android ecosystem could possibly make payments work: 1. Google creates an independent, tightly controlled Android Payments (technology) Platform: -- loosely coupled with the open source Android operating system, and -- integrated with Google Play & Google Wallet, 2. Hardware manufacturers build compatible NFC integrated systems with secure elements that work with the Android Payments Platform, 3. Merchants upgrade terminals with "Android Pay" APIs / capabilities, 4. Customers pay with their credentials / payment options on Google Wallet, to include credit & debit cards and PayPal. Obviously the devil is in the details, and this may just be one of many possible scenarios. The one thing that is different about this time is, as rightly noted in the article, the payments world is on fire and consumers are more inclined towards change / adoption than ever before. It will be interesting to watch who takes the lead, and figures out out payments outside of Apple Pay.