Another mobile payment solution launches in U.S.
Hot on the heels of Google’s official launch of Android Pay, Samsung is officially entering the U.S. mobile payment market. Samsung Pay, which launched in South Korea in August, is now available for use by U.S. consumers.
Samsung Pay functionality is built into the hardware of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge mobile devices. Samsung says Samsung Pay is the first and only mobile payment service that works with both near field communication (NFC) and card readers with magnetic secure transmission (MST) technologies, which means it is already compatible with most POS terminals.
Samsung also claims that more retailers already accept Samsung Pay than any other mobile payment service. However the service does not yet work on the Verizon network, and only cards issued by U.S. Bank, Citi, Bank of America, and American Express can currently be used in Samsung Pay transactions.
Also factor in that it is only available on Samsung devices and competes on those devices with Android Pay, and the initial Samsung Pay U.S. user base is probably small, despite widespread acceptance.
To pay, consumers launch the Samsung Pay app, hold their Samsung device near the credit card terminal and authorize it with their choice of fingerprint or a PIN number. Cards can be added to a Samsung Pay account with a photo or also manually entered.
To initiate payment, users swipe up from the bottom on the home screen, even when locked or turned off. They can swipe left and right to view registered cards and then place their finger on the home button to scan their fingerprint, or touch the ‘insert PIN’ button and use the PIN. Holding the phone against the card reader completes payment.
Security is provided by unique, encrypted tokens that banks associate with a user’s card. If a device with Samsung Pay is lost or stolen, users can remotely lock or delete their Samsung Pay account.
With Samsung Pay joining Apple Pay and Android Pay, mobile payment may finally start experiencing the U.S. growth experts have been predicting since Apple Pay launched a year ago. It is rare for any market to have three leaders, so if mobile payment does take off, at least one of these companies may not enjoy the ride.