Samsung has launched its newest mobile payment platform in South Korea last August. September 28th, Samsung Pay is expected to debut in the United States as the rival of Apple Pay and Android Pay.
The Samsung Pay works like the Android Pay. It is an application that lets the user load up supported credit, loyalty, debit, and gift cards, which can be copied using the device to pay in stores. Since its first month of introduction in Korea, Samsung Pay went through into transactions with a massive amount of $30 million. This figure has been the first to be issued by a major company in the mobile payment services industry. It aims to be a substitute for shoppers who swipe credit cards or pay cash in stores.
However, Samsung Pay solely works with a small number of cards and banks as compared to Android Pay. At its premier, Samsung works only with Citi, U.S. Bank, Bank of America, VISA, American Express, and MasterCard.
To use Samsung Pay, users must create an account in the application by providing the data of the credit card. Then they can pay whatever they bought by simply tapping their smartphones on a device installed in the store that uses wireless technology. With this, the merchants do not need to use NFC technology to accept payments, unlike in Apple Pay and Android Pay.
Probably, the biggest issue in Samsung Pay could be its compatibility. This application is only supported on the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, and Note 5. But these devices need a U.S. model on a supported carrier, like T-Mobile, Cellular, AT&T, and Sprint. This means that the users cannot bring an international version of the supported devices to the United States and use Samsung Pay if their carrier is Verizon at launch. Unfortunately, the application won't work.
Nonetheless, Samsung Pay will be a strong competitor to Apple Pay and Android Pay. It will be a great alternative for paying bills or buying stuff.
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