Samsung Pay ‘To Launch In September’

Samsung’s entry into the mobile payments battle could come in just a matter of months, new reports have said.

The company’s managing director, Park Jin-Young, has revealed that Samsung Pay will become available in the second half of 2015 and the first countries to get it will be South Korea and the US.

Speaking on a conference call following the company’s first quarter earnings report announcement, Park added that the company doesn’t exactly have a timeline for Samsung Pay’s release to additional countries.

“The consecutive release schedule to the rest of the other countries following Korea and the US in the second half of the year is still under discussion. The compatibility option with the smart watch will only be disclosed during the launch,” he added.

Coming soon

Revealed at Mobile World Congress back in March, Samsung Pay marks the company’s first full entry into the mobile payments market

Rather than just utilising NFC technology, as seen in systems such as Apple Pay,  Samsung’s system also packs in magnetic secure transmission, which mimics magnetic-strip payment systems such as everyday credit cards, meaning any retailer that currently accepts credit, debit or NFC payments can adopt the technology.

Samsung estimates that Apple Pay reaches only 10 percent of merchants in the US alone, meaning there is a huge opportunity for it to capitalise on.

Samsung’s latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will support the system, and it is hoped that the company’s wearable devices will to.

“Samsung Pay will reinvent how people pay for goods and services and transform how they use their smartphones,” Samsung CEO JK Shin said at the launch. “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.”

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