Usually when a company launches a long awaited product in a new territory it’s accompanied by fanfare or some sort of marketing exercise.
That doesn’t seem to be the case as regards Google Wallet which had its support page quietly updated recently to add six new regions. These regions were updated recently considering that the new and improved Google Wallet (previously known as Google Pay) was rolled out to 39 countries just last month.
As reported by Android Police, the newly added regions include:
- Azerbaijan;
- Iceland;
- Moldova;
- Qatar;
- Serbia;
- South Africa.
Google Wallet allows users to make contactless payments using a phone or a wearable.
Aside from payments, loyalty cards can be added to the Google Wallet app as can COVID-19 vaccine certificates, tickets and other digital passes. The service can even be used to make payments in apps which support the payment method.
Following publication of the information above, Google released an official statement regarding the availability of Wallet.
“We are very excited about the launch of Google Wallet in South Africa. We hope that people not only enjoy how easy it is to use, but also how secure it is for them to transact their business confidently,” country director for Google South Africa, Alistair Mokoena said of the launch.
The service is available to account holders at the following banks:
- FirstRand Bank;
- Discovery Bank;
- Investec;
- Standard Bank;
- ABSA;
- Nedbank.
While Google has said that Wear OS is supported, the official Google Support page says otherwise. We have asked Google for additional information.
If you are somebody who is deeply entrenched in the Google and Android ecosystems, this might be a good time to test out Google Wallet. You can download the app for free here.
