There’s a new mobile payment platform on the horizon, and it’s officially started its trial period.
Samsung’s Samsung Pay, set to go head to head in competition against Android Pay and Apple Pay, has been launched as a trial version in South Korea.
“Users of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are the first to have access to Samsung Pay, which will be accepted in more stores than any other mobile payment service in Korea,” read an official Samsung blog post.
“It is the first and only mobile payment service that works with both near field communication NFC and card readers with magnetic secure transmission (MST) technologies, which means it is already compatible with most retail locations’ point of sale terminals.”
Samsung Pay’s inclusion of MST technology means the platform will be able to be used at most POS terminals, as NFC is still yet to see widespread adoption.
Samsung’s new platform looks to have the core tech needed to give other services strong competition, especially Apple Pay, which recently launched in the U.K. after a successful U.S. run.
It was clear that Samsung intended to take on the big mobile payment platforms after they acquired LoopPay earlier this year, thus obtaining the company’s patented MST technology.
