Samsung is heavily invested in both mobile payments and virtual reality so it may not be surprising to see the company join the two at some point in the future, even the company hints at that. Samsung is looking at the potential of powering payments in virtual reality with Samsung Pay, the mobile payments service it launched last year. Samsung is also looking to catch up with Apple Pay in allowing customers to pay for in-app purchases using Samsung Pay.
Head of Samsung Pay Europe Nathalie Oestmann has said in an interview that gift cards will give Samsung a unique way to provide customers with offers. She also said that Samsung has in-app payments on its roadmap as well as online commerce, adding that “being able to pay online with Samsung Pay is very important.” Apple Pay does allow customers to pay inside apps using the service but the feature hasn't arrived on Samsung Pay yet.
Oestmann also mentioned that there has been talk about enabling people to enter a store with their virtual reality headset and browse the store in VR. Users then easily click and pick what they want to purchase and pay inside the VR environment with Samsung Pay. Come to think of it, that seems like a really nice way to discover stores and shop, and if it does happen it would be something truly unique to Samsung's VR technology and its payments service.
