Google announces Android Pay — and it's a lot like Apple Pay

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Google announced Thursday a new payments platform for Android called Android Pay.

Android Pay is very similar to Apple Pay for the iPhone. It lets you load up your credit card infomation to your Android phone and pay for stuff in stores by tapping your phone on a special pad.

Also like Apple Pay, Android Pay will support fingerprint readers so users can authenticate payments at checkout.

This is Google's second attempt at a mobile payments system. In 2011, the company introduced Google Wallet, but it failed to really take off. Many US wireless carriers blocked the app from Android phones they sold and retailers didn't support it.

Google said Android Pay will work at retail partners like Subway, Whole Foods, Staples, and McDonald's. It should also work at most retailers that already have near field communication (NFC) payment pads on their credit card terminals.

Android Pay will come to select Android phones following a software update later this year.

Meanwhile, Samsung, the biggest Android phone maker in the world, already has its own answer to Android Pay and Apple Pay. It's called — you guessed it — Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay will work with regular magnetic credit card readers in addition to NFC readers. It launches this summer.

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