Updated from Sept. 3 to reflect that Android Pay is finally rolling out.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- After plenty of rumors and speculation about when Android Pay would hit the market, Google has finally set its mobile wallet free. About a year behind Apple (AAPL) - Get Report Pay.

Apple launched its own mobile payment offering back in October of 2014, while Google (GOOG) - Get Report (GOOGL) - Get Report only first mentioned Android Pay at Mobile World Congress this past March. As second to market, Google runs the risk of having to catch up to Apple Pay's early buzz and progress.

To be fair, Google already had Google Wallet as an option, but Wallet, which launched in 2011, only integrated gift and loyalty cards, not credit or debit cards. Android Pay, which will tie in credit, debit, gift, and loyalty cards, will begin rolling out to consumers over the next few days and will be accepted at more than one million locations across the U.S.

Even before Android Pay officially launched, certain retailers like Subway and McDonald's had already begun advertising that they accepted it. On top of that, an update to the Google Play Services app includes an Android Pay option for in-app payment, though the in-app option for Android Pay has yet to be activated. Google says that part of Android Pay will come later this year.

At the time, Google spokesperson Anaik Weid declined to comment, simply saying "Stay tuned!" -- a message echoed by Android's official Twitter account. But now that Twitter account has tuned us in to the fact that Android Pay is live.

While the question of when we'd actually be seeing Android Pay has been answered, there's still no debating the fact that Apple Pay has gotten a healthy head start. Yet analysts aren't sure that's necessarily a bad thing for Google.

"Now Apple Pay has done the job for all mobile payments providers to educate users and merchants of the NFC payment system which clears major barriers for Google," said Siyun Zeng, an analyst at IHS Technology. NFC, or near-field communications, is the technology that powers both Apple Pay and Android Pay, allowing consumers to simply tap their phone on a terminal to transact.

Apple has been doing a great job of signing up merchants to integrate these terminals in their stores -- at its Spring Forward event in March, Apple announced that Apple Pay is accepted at 700,000 locations, up from 220,000 back in September. All of those stores can automatically now accept Android Pay since it uses the same technology.

On top of that technical help, Apple has also boosted consumer awareness for the new payment method in general. "It has helped to transition much of the hype and conjecture that has been associated with this space for so long into forward progress," said Jordan McKee, analyst at 451 Research. "While Android Pay may not enjoy the media attention Apple Pay has seen, it will benefit from traction it has created."

What all of this means is that Google may not need to worry that much about being second-to-market. It doesn't, however, mean that Google needn't worry at all. Even if timing isn't a differentiator here, Android Pay still differs from Apple Pay in some huge areas, according to Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

"Being later than Apple Pay won't become a hindrance, but questions in ease of use, security and privacy could," he said.

The main concern there would be Google's core business of leveraging data for advertising purposes. Consumers may be less comfortable transacting via Google, who can "build their ad profile on you with the help of understanding better what you buy and where you shop," Moorhead said. Apple, on the other hand, will not store or share any purchase data from Apple Pay.

Yet even if a consumer may lean more towards one wallet over the other, the reality is that some newer smartphones are coming preloaded with a mobile wallet, meaning that consumers may just use what is already there. As of the second quarter of 2015, 82.8% of smartphones in the U.S. ran on Android, versus 13.9% on iOS, according to IDC

"At the end of the day, who got there first does not really matter," said Carolina Milanesi, chief of research and head of U.S. business at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. The winner will be the one that can offer its wallet on the most devices and operating systems in a seamless way, meaning that Google will likely have a head start if it can get Android Pay preloaded on all Android phones moving forward (it will have to beat out Samsung's mobile payment solution Samsung Pay in that respect).

As it stands, iOS-based smartphones will not be able to access Android Pay and Android-based smartphones will not be able to access Apple Pay. For either solution to truly win over customers, it both has to convince consumers in its own ecosystem to use the wallet, as well as consumers in its rival ecosystem to switch over. This means that Android Pay will have won when it convinces someone with an iPhone to get an Android phone so that he or she can use Android Pay, or vice versa.

While a high bar to get over, that future is certainly possible, according to Moorhead, especially "if we start to see major difference and discrepancies down the road."