EXCLUSIVE All signs are pointing to Google launching Android Pay in Australia very soon, perhaps within the next ten days. We know Google has previously committed to a first-half of 2016 launch, but with that deadline just twelve days away, things weren’t looking good.

Well, today, that changes. Ausdroid has received information from a number of sources indicating that from next week (perhaps as early as Monday 20th June), select users in Australia’s capital cities will receive early access to Android Pay.

Google has invited a number of beta users to participate in this exclusive trial next week. To participate, these users have given some information to Google to allow their accounts to be whitelisted, and to make sure their financial institutions are supported, and to identify some test retailers in their areas in which to try Android Pay.

These lucky beta testers have been instructed to try using Android Pay at these retailers and to document their results so that Google can presumably conduct some final user acceptance testing before opening the service up to us all. This testing will run for a week (between Monday 20th and Friday 24th June).

As is usually the case, Google is conducting this trial under strict non-disclosure terms, so there is some information we are not prepared to share at this time. While we remain hopeful that Google will meet the H1 2016 deadline for launching Android Pay locally, there is some indication that the launch could still be a few weeks away.

Once we know more, we’ll share what we can. We’re very excited about these developments!