As mobile payments get more traction in countries where cashless payments are now the norm, we’ll see the biggest brands duke it out to be the preferred mobile payment service of choice. The two biggest services have made announcements over the past couple of days. Google Pay has brought some major improvements to its service in Singapore, making it more localized and specific to the Southeast Asian country. Meanwhile, Samsung Pay has launched in Germany and it’s one of the best “versions” of their mobile payment gateway.
Singapore may be a small country but it is one of the most technologically agile markets in the world. They have been using Google Pay for some time now for their transportation and purchasing needs but now Google is bringing some localized improvements to it. First of all, they have now partnered with the country’s real-time payment service called PayNow. This means you can send money to anyone there even if they don’t have Google Pay. It’s available for those who have accounts in OCBC and now DBS Paylah! and Standard Chartered Bank.
Singapore is also now the first country where Google Pay users can create groups to help in organizing and managing payments, including splitting bills and other joint expenses within the app. And exclusively for the country, Google Pay now has an Order Food feature and you can also book your movie ticket within the app. They’re also adding rewards for transactions to get more people to use the app and service through gamification.
Meanwhile, over in Germany, Samsung Pay has finally launched within the country. And while normally, Samsung has to partner with specific banks for the mobile payment gateway, this time around they partnered with Visa and Berlin-based fintech company Solarisbank AG. This means users will be able to link almost any bank account to Samsung Pay, even if said bank doesn’t support a mobile payment platform.
Samsung Pay is now available in beta version in Germany. You can apply to join if you have a compatible device, which includes the Galaxy S10 series, Galaxy S20 series, Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy Fold, and Galaxy Fold 2. It will exit the beta testing phase by October 28.
