As rumored earlier, Samsung did indeed have a payments service ‘Samsung Pay’ in the works. The service was officially announced today at the ongoing event, alongside Samsung’s Galaxy S6 series. Essentially, with Samsung Pay, the company wants to make payments easier for its users. This, the company aims to establish by using the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge’s NFC radios along with what the company calls MST – Magnetic Secure Transmission. The unique selling point of the service according to Samsung is the fact that users will be able to use the payments service with existing merchants, without the latter having to invest in additional hardware, as has been the case with other mobile wallet systems.
Samsung has roped in two of the biggest payment networks in MasterCard and Visa for Samsung Pay. Additionally, the company is also looking at a few other companies as potential partners, including American Express, Citi, etc. “The secure and simple payment process, coupled with our robust partner network, makes Samsung Pay a truly game-changing service that will bring value to consumers and our partners in the ecosystem,” added JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung.
The company also adds that its KNOX security system, in conjunction with ARM TrustZone, will work to protect your information and attempt to protect you from fraud attempts. From what we’re hearing the service will go live only in summer of 2015, which is when Samsung perhaps expects the Galaxy S6 and the Edge to be at their best when it comes popularity and sales.
