Google has revealed that it has indeed starting rolling out a new promotion in the United States, specifically a rewards program called “Tap 10” which is targeted at users of Android Pay, the company’s own mobile payment system. Android users are now offered a chance to receive rewards such as a Chromecast absolutely for free, and other freebies like movies, musical tracks, or subscriptions to Google Play. All these users have to do is utilize Android Pay when paying for items at local business establishments.
The program is actually called Tap 10 because it is a reference to the goal of acquiring mobile users to complete at least 10 mobile payment transactions within the promo period, which runs until the end of February this year. Google was rather quiet in launching the program, but courtesy of numerous tip offs from Android users, the promo has since been reported by a number of blogs.
In confirming that the program does exist, Google explained that it opted not to make a lot of noise about the promotion because the program is only being tested by a limited number of mobile users. This is certainly consistent with what has been reported by blogs so far, which cited that only few users reported having received an invite to join in the program. It is not clear though if the users were chosen using a specific criteria, with some reports offering that the testers were most likely chosen at random.
It does seem like a wise decision for Google to limit the pool of testers for the Tap 10 rewards program to just a few mobile users. Doing so will definitely give the company an idea how interested people are in using its mobile payment system. If the testing phase does well, the tech giant should have more license to launch a far wider roll out for the promo, which should surely increase usage for Android Pay.
Since launching in the US, Android Pay is now accepted at more than a million establishments in the country. But like other mobile payment systems (such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay), it faces the challenge of changing an already established consumer behavior of swiping credit cards. Old habits really do die hard, and what makes matters worse is that usage of mobile payment systems are actually starting to cool off. Even Apple Pay, perhaps the most popular contactless mode of payment right now, is no exception, posting decreased usage in the last few months. For Android Pay, it may take more than just a rewards program to effect change.
