New Zealand BP Stations Bring Out Android Pay Access

While “long lines at the gas station” are really only occasionally a problem and depend mainly on the time of day, anything that can be done to speed the process along is probably worth doing.

That’s a point not lost on BP, who recently brought Android Pay access to BP stores throughout New Zealand.

Available to anyone with an Android phone that’s running at least Android 4.4—otherwise known as KitKat for those who prefer the sugary codename—Android Pay allows users to make payments direct from a smartphone using contactless systems.

It’s almost as easy to pay for things at a BP store now as it would be to press a couple buttons on a phone, and that will likely trim down waits at the stores.

BP’s Debi Boffa, who serves as head of retail, commented “We’re constantly looking at new ways to help our customers tap in to faster ways to pay and we’ve teamed up with Google to help us deliver that. Android Pay gives our customers another convenient way to pay with their mobile devices.”

If it’s available in New Zealand, it’s easy to wonder if BP will bring Android Pay to BP locations beyond New Zealand, like to the United States. Since Android Pay is already accepted at stores from Aeropostale to Winn-Dixie, it’s really not such an outlandish notion that the mobile payment system would reach beyond those geographical limits and be a part of the mix elsewhere.

Of course, given that the connected car is starting to come around, it might be that Google isn’t interested in stepping on those toes, and is rather holding out for connected cars before really working to expand into places where a car would be closely connected.

Then again, if the systems already accepted Android Pay, then Google could not only reap benefit now but also in the future as the connected car stepped in, and could be powered by Android Pay.

There are many possibilities afoot here, and only time will tell just which of these actaully comes off. In the short term, however, we know that New Zealanders have a new option to pay for gas and the like, and it’s as close as a smartphone with Android Pay.