Samsung will debut its mobile payment service - Samsung Pay - in Korea on the August 20th and in the U.S. on September the 28th, said the company. The Korean electronic giant is partnering with a wide array of card networks, issuers and acquirers to support contactless payments for store-branded credit cards. Samsung also plans to roll out the service in the U.K., Spain and China. Samsung Pay supports both the legacy Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) and Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies, making it compatible with most existing point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
Samsung Pay will be preloaded on select Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 devices and a free software upgrade will be rolled out beginning mid-August, to enable Samsung Pay on Galaxy S6 and S6 edge devices in the U.S. and Korea. The company is also giving select U.S. users of Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ and Note5 the opportunity to participate in a beta trial from August the 25th ahead of the September 28th launch.
Payment networks which will soon be part of Samsung Pay include American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa, major banks including Bank of America, Chase, U.S. Bank and key financial partners including First Data, Synchrony Financial and TSYS, said the company.
JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics
Speaking at a Samsung event in New York where it unveiled its newest flagship devices – the Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5. With the launches of these exciting new smartphones, we will open a new era of mobile payment. This is Samsung’s brave step forward to enhance our mobile experience. It is easy, safe, and most importantly, available virtually anywhere you can swipe a card, in most cases without new costs for merchants, from day one.
