September last year, Samsung was reportedly looking at a payment process through smartwatches. Nothing has materialized yet but the closest the South Korean giant introduced was the PayPal fingerprint secured payments coming to the Galaxy S5. Looks like Samsung is finally stepping up, hoping to rival Apple Pay and Google Wallet, with the announcement that it has acquired LoopPay. We heard of this rumor a few weeks ago and as it turns out, the story is true and LoopPay is joining Samsung’s mobile branch.
As one of the mobile wallet solutions provider in the US, LoopPay is a good buy for Samsung. The latter didn’t bother getting another service or creating its own because LoopPay’s reach is already wide. At present, LoopPay is a convenient solution because it doesn’t require any hardware upgrade to allow contactless payments. Any point-of-sale terminal, LoopPay can turn into a mobile payment hub.
No details of the deal were revealed but George Wallner and Will Graylin, founder of LoopPay and veteran payment industry entrepreneurs, will be working closely with Samsung’s Mobile Division on what could be the “next wave of innovation in the digital smart wallet.”
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics’ President and Head of IT and Mobile Division, JK Shin, said:
“This acquisition accelerates our vision to drive and lead innovation in the world of mobile commerce. Our goal has always been to build the smartest, most secure, user-friendly mobile wallet experience, and we are delighted to welcome LoopPay to take us closer to this goal.”
Note that Samsung once invested in LoopPay a few years back. Because of the partnership, LoopPay’s MST technology (Magnetic Secure Transmission protocol) was built and it’s Samsung’s turn to make use of it. Right now, we don’t know if the LoopPay app will stay on the App Store and Google Play Store or if Samsung will released something new.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw1l149Rb1k
VIA: SlashGear
SOURCE: Samsung
