by Byron Connolly

Samsung takes on Apple with new mobile payment service

News
Jun 15, 2016
Retail IndustryRisk Management

Samsung has thrown its hat in the mobile payment ring with a new contactless offering that lets Citibank and American Express credit card customers pay for products and services in-store with their smartphones.

To make a payment using Samsung Pay – the manufacturer’s answer to Apple Pay – users swipe up, choose the desired payment card, authenticate the transaction with a fingerprint sensor and tap the device on a point of sale terminal.

The service is available to users with Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge smartphones.

Prasad Gokhale, VP at Samsung Australia’s mobile division said the offering was the next development for Australians who use their smartphone as the central device to live, organise and enjoy their lives.

“Australia is a market of early technology adopters and by providing a platform open to all partners, ranging from government to financial institutions and retailers, while upholding the highest standards of security and data privacy, Samsung is fueling the transition to a truly digital wallet,” he said.

Samsung claimed that partner integration is simple as the technology uses near field communication (NFC) and Samsung’s proprietary technology – Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) – which the vendor claimed makes it the only payment solution with wider acceptance.

“The MST technology enables Samsung Pay to support partners that use a traditional magnetic stripe commonly found on loyalty cards, gift cards and transit cards, both in Australia and across the globe,” said Elle Kim, global vice-president, Samsung Pay.

“It’s our goal to one day replace wallets, by making every card accessible on Samsung smartphones,” said Kim.

Each transaction uses an encrypted digital token to replace a user’s personal payment information and payments can only be authorised with an approved fingerprint or PIN, Samsung said.

Samsung Pay was previously launched in South Korea, the United States, China and Spain.

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