Last year, we said that Samsung was looking at payment process through smartwatches. We first thought it would be partnering with PayPal but as it turned out, the South Korean giant went ahead to acquire LoopPay. The company was all set to rival Apple Pay and Google Wallet. And since the newest flagship phone was revealed by Samsung over the weekend, the tech giant is also introducing the official mobile payment system called Samsung Pay.
Samsung is bringing the newest payment solution which could set a new trend in e-commerce and mobile payments. Why, Samsung Pay may be new but it can work with traditional magstripe terminals. That means, you can use it with existing point-of-sale terminals. There’s less need to change the terminals in stores because the new Samsung Pay can still work on them, therefore, it will benefit more people. As well all know, electronic mobile payments and mobile wallets, no matter how great the features are, will always depend on the terminals.
Samsung wants to bring mobile payments technology to more people so it’s taking advantage of Near Field Communication (NFC) and Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technologies. The latter is a new tech but it makes mobile payment more accessible to both consumers and merchants.
Aiming to deliver the best solution in mobile payments, Samsung partnered with Visa and MasterCard, two of the major payment networks in the world today. The company is still in discussion with Citi, US Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and American Express to expand the ecosystem and provide the solution to more customers all over the world.
Samsung Electronics’ CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division JK Shin takes pride in this new product. He said:
“Samsung Pay will reinvent how people pay for goods and services and transform how they use their smartphones. The secure and simple payment process, coupled with our robust partner network, makes Samsung Pay a truly game-changing service that will bring value to consumers and our partners in the ecosystem.”
This development makes mobile commerce more interesting agrees Visa’s Executive Vice President McCarthy. He said, “Combining Visa’s expertise in payment technology with Samsung’s leadership in creating innovative mobile experiences, gives more choice to financial institutions who want to enable their customers to pay by phone.” Meanwhile, Bank of America’s CEO, Chairman and Director Brian Moynihan thinks “Samsung Pay is another significant move in that direction for our 17 million mobile customers.”
MasterCard is also excited about this development in mobile payments. Chief Emerging Payments Officer Ed McLaughlin of Mastercard shared, “As consumers are increasingly relying on their mobile devices in their everyday lives, we are excited to work with an industry leader like Samsung to deliver new payment options to our cardholders around the world. We have been a pioneer of mobile commerce innovation for years and together we’re delivering a digital payment experience that is both simple and secure.”
Once everything is in order, Samsung Pay could have the the widest coverage of mobile payments. It could be accepted in about 30 million merchant terminals because of the Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) that will allow Samsung Pay to work with current payment terminals in most countries. E-commerce and mobile payments have the potential to become bigger and widely accepted, thanks to Samsung’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology. Samsung Pay will also support private label credit cards (PLCC) once companies like Synchrony Financial and First Data Corporation officially partner with Samsung.
Unlike other mobile payment systems already available, Samsung Pay offers a more universal mobile payment solution because of the technologies being used. This special feature will be debut later this 2015 on the new Samsung Galaxy S 6 and Galaxy S 6 edge.
SOURCE: Samsung, MasterCard, Visa
Samsung Pay will first be available on their top of the range smartphones, the S6 and S6 Edge, no doubt mobile payment for the time being is an above average revenue users market !