Next to the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung Pay was the big announcement at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in March, and it has been in the news ever since. Samsung is putting a lot of stock in Samsung Pay and JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics said, “Samsung Pay will reinvent how people pay for goods and services and transform how they use their smartphones. 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.” At that time no dates were set other than it was to debut the second half of 2015.
The ‘Next Big Thing’ smartphone geeks are waiting to arrive is the new Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy Note Edge 2 – or Galaxy Note 5 Edge or whatever they will call it – this fall, although early rumors had it debuting in July. After stunning the world with their new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, we should have a lot to look forward to when the next rendition of the Galaxy Note series arrives, as many believe they will be based on the metal and glass structure of the Galaxy S series. Samsung likes to use IFA in Berlin to announce its Galaxy Note series and it looks like that will be the case from a reference that a Samsung executive made when discussing Samsung Pay, which was also thought to be starting in July.
Samsung Executive Vice President Rhee In Jong told investors that Samsung Pay would debut with the “next high-end mobile device.” Claire Kim, a Seoul-based analyst at Daishin Securities Co. seems to agree and commented, “The new service will likely be deployed on its next Galaxy Note device. The key is how fast Samsung will be able to expand the service to lower-end devices.” Currently, it is only available on the new Galaxy S6 devices and Samsung is looking at a goal of 15 – 20 percent of its smartphone users participating in the service according to Rhee.
When Samsung purchased Loop Pay it gave them a huge advantage over Apple Pay and the Google Wallet…soon to become Android Pay…because Samsung Pay uses the information stored on the magnetic strip on the back of your credit cards. Since 90-percent of the retailers use swiping devices, it opens up the door to Samsung Pay at over 10 million retailers. Everybody wants a piece of the mobile payment market which could soar from $67 billion in 2015 to more than $142 billion by 2019 according to Forrester Research Inc.