Samsung launched its mobile payments service Samsung Pay back in August 2015. South Korea was the first country to get it before it was gradually rolled out in other markets across the globe. Three years down the line, Samsung Pay is now available in 24 markets across six continents. The company today announced the full launch of Samsung Pay in South Africa.
Samsung has seen considerable success with its payment service. It has continued to expand the service to additional markets and the localized approach has helped the service quickly make space for itself. Samsung Pay has now processed more than 1.3 billion transactions globally.
Samsung Pay in South Africa
The Samsung Pay launch in South Africa has been a long time coming. It was supposed to be launched alongside the Galaxy Note 8 in the country last year but that didn't happen. It was revealed four months ago that Samsung Pay would be launched in South Africa around the summer. It's finally being launched days before Samsung releases the Galaxy Note 9.
Samsung has approximately 2,000 banking and financial partners for Samsung Pay globally. The service now supports online payments in 15 markets and transit cards in five markets. Loyalty and membership cards are supported in 20 markets while users can also perform ATM transactions in four markets.
It's this localized approach that has helped Samsung Pay quickly build up its user base. The partnerships, value-added services, and capabilities are customized for each market. It also works with existing payment services when it's launched in a new market.
One of the main reasons why Samsung Pay has been able to expand quickly is its support for MST. The Magnetic Secure Transmission technology is what enables the service to be used at almost any retail in a market where the service has been launched. It eliminates the need for special NFC terminals, enabling users to pay with Samsung Pay anywhere they can already pay using a bank card.
Check out the infographic showing Samsung Pay's current status below.
