Samsung this week announced that its m-payment service will go live in Korea on 20 August, followed by the U.S. on 28 September.
Aptly-titled Samsung Pay, the company plans to also roll the service out in the China, Spain and the U.K.
"The future of mobile payments has arrived," said In-Jong Rhee, global head of Samsung Pay, in a statement on Thursday. "We are partnering with card networks, issuers and acquirers, and Samsung Pay will also be the first to support contactless payment for store-branded credit cards."
Samsung has already signed up American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Major U.S. banks, including Bank of America and Chase, are also on board, as well as financial institutions in Korea.
"The list of partners will only grow," Rhee said.
When it launches, customers will be able to use Samsung Pay to make contactless payments using NFC as well as the company’s proprietary magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology, which enables the user to make a contactless paymen t by touching their device onto the part of the merchant’s payment terminal normally used for reading a credit card’s magnetic strip.
The advantage this has over rival offerings like Apple pay, is that today, MST-compatible merchant terminals are more widely available than NFC terminals.
Of course, to use Samsung Pay, customers will need a compatible Samsung device, two of which were unveiled by Samsung on Thursday.
The first is the Galaxy S6 Edge+, a big-screen version of Samsung’s flagship S6 Edge, featuring a touchscreen with curved edges.
The second is the latest edition to Samsung’s Note range of phablets, the Note 5. It comes with an updated version of Samsung’s stylus, the S Pen, which allows the user to ‘write’ on the screen.
Both will ship with Samsung Pay. Owners of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will be able to get Samsung Pay via a free software update.
"With the launches of these exciting new smartphones, we will open a new era of mobile payment," said J.K. Shin, CEO and head of Samsung’s IT and mobile communications division. "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."
