It’s not hard to predict that mobile payment systems will gain massive popularity in a near future. Currently, the most popular services include Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. In an interview with ZDNet, Injong Rhee, who is in charge of Samsung Pay, shares some thoughts about the future of this platform. Let’s remember that Samsung Pay is already more compatible than the other systems because MST technology in some of their flagship phones makes them compatible with the current magnetic terminals, so there’s no need for merchants to upgrade them.
First of all, he makes it clear that Samsung Pay doesn’t mean to replace your whole wallet, but more plastic cards will be integrated into this system. He mentioned the success this system had when it started in South Korea, but he acknowledges that Samsung has more competition in America and it is a substantially larger area to cover. The company has partnered with all major carriers, payment networks and banks to stay competitive, but they will keep educating users and merchants to raise awareness. The Samsung Pay app will be updated this month with a slightly improved interface letting users see all their registered cards at once in a menu section and gift cards, membership cards and in-app purchases will be integrated.
Rhee also mentioned that the service will be available in lower-end devices within a couple of months and they could integrate MST technology in some of their future non-flagship phones. He explained that they didn’t integrate such technology in the Gear S2 smartwatch because it would make it a little thicker. The company claims that three out of four Samsung Pay transactions were done thanks to this technology, so they will probably keep this compatibility until NFC technology takes off. Knox, which provides security to Samsung’s devices was and still is an integral part of Samsung Pay and Rhee can see some IoT appliances benefiting from this technology as well.
As for the future, Rhee knows that mobile payment systems come as disruptive to the financial sector, so they will have to find a way where both parties win. Still, they will have to offer new services to make these services more attractive. Their current goal is to make Samsung Pay available on the 70 countries where they currently sell devices in the next few years. Finally, he admitted that they have considered offering Samsung Pay in non-Samsung devices but the overwhelming success of this service and their expansion plans are taking most of their attention. They would have to find a way to make Samsung Pay stand out from the rest in other devices, as without MST technology it is very similar to the other offerings and they probably won’t rely on brand awareness.