A back-of-the-napkin estimate on Samsung Pay volume in the US: Samsung accounted for about about 28% of the 190 million US smartphone subscriptions as of June, according to comScore. And while Samsung Pay works with more merchants, acceptance isn’t universal because of technical and behavioral constraints.
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Following their acquisition of LoopPay earlier this year, Samsung’s Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and now the Note 5 and S6 Edge+ devices have the technology to use both the more traditional, Near Field Communication (NFC) for mobile payments but also LoopPay’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST). You may have heard of MST before but assumed it’s what you get from a dirty motel room. Since Samsung Pay can work with most credit card terminals, Samsung believes that it has a jump start on the competition. Samsung Pay, on the other side, is a more consumer-oriented product. It turns your mobile device into a digital wallet, letting users seamlessly pay for things at retailers.
Samsung did not skip the importance of security.
Unlike competitors Apple and Google, systems which only work on specific credit card terminals, Samsung says its phones can now replace plastic credit cards nearly everywhere. What this means is that every time you use it, your actual credit card number is not transmitted or shared. The Galaxy Note 5 still uses a stylus, the S-Pen, which the company says is like writing with a ballpoint pen. These are also very secure and sandboxed from other apps that may try to access them. Samsung will be able to partner with merchants, coupon and discount providers for integration straight into the app. To do so you swipe up from the bottom bezel of the phone.
Your credit cards, reward cards, etc. will float on the screen, as if you had them in hand. From here, you unlock your phone with your fingerprint and choose the payment method.
Using your phone to pay for your morning coffee is not a new concept. This feature isn’t included in the current iteration of Samsung Pay, but it will soon be added.
On the surface there are many similarities between Samsung Pay and its iPhone 6-functioning rival, but scratch a little deeper and there are a number of subtle differences that combine to create an even simpler, more intuitive mobile payment platform.
Speaking at a Samsung event in New York where it unveiled its newest flagship devices – the Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5, JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics said, “With the launches of these exciting new smartphones, we will open a new era of mobile payment”.
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Despite all of the promises of mobile payments being our future, the market is timid right now while the companies behind different solutions prepare for their large-scale roll outs.
