Richard Mercille, Senior Software Engineer, PayPal

At PayPal, we see wearables as a huge opportunity to create seamless, context driven payment experiences that truly change the way people interact with their devices. In fact, earlier this year we were proud to deliver the first payment experience on the Samsung wearable devices—with the Gear 2 and Gear Fit.

From a development perspective, this means creating a user experience that is designed specifically for wearables. The tiny device screens alone require developers to rethink the user interface (UI). A truly wearable optimized application has to be a completely fluid, streamlined and contextual experience. However, with new devices from multiple manufactures rapidly coming to market, without using a somewhat device-agnostic development approach, keeping pace presents a challenge.

With Google’s introduction of its Android Wear™ OS, developers are now better positioned to really drive innovation and take full advantage of the potential wearable devices present. As developer advocate Timothy Jordan explains it, Android Wear is “designed to be simple, glanceable and built on micro-interactions.”  For us at PayPal, this allows us to further accelerate our pace of innovation, we can design once and quickly tailor to support new wearable devices as they come to market. With Android Wear, we’re able to add just a few lines of code to leverage stacks, pages and simple notification replies. From there, with the full SDK, we can create totally unique Android Wear experiences. 

With the official release of the Android Wear SDK at Google I/O, we are excited to share what we’ve been working on. Starting this week, by leveraging the Android Wear OS and new SDK, we’ll begin to release the PayPal App on Android Wear to our Beta Community. And in the coming weeks, the PayPal App will be available on the latest Android Wear devices—including the recently announced Motorola Moto360 and LG’s G Watch. Once available, the PayPal app will allow Android Wear device owners, to check-in to pay at local stores, redeem offers, and receive payment notifications while on the go (and in some cases with just the command of your voice).

As new wearable devices come to market, I personally look forward to seeing where developers are going to take us. And as we continue with our ‘Wallet on Wearables’ innovation path, I look forward to quickly delivering the PayPal mobile experience to future Android Wear devices.