Samsung Pay was first released in South Korea in August 2015 as the company’s mobile payment service and as a direct competitor to Apple Pay. The service was later released in the United States, and last month Samsung Pay also debuted in China. More countries are expected to follow by the end of the year, including Australia, Brazil, Russia, and Spain. Needless to say, Samsung intends to expand the service’s reach in many other regions relatively soon, but aside from making Samsung Pay available to more consumers around the world – which is always a good thing – it appears that the Korean tech giant is also considering other ways to make Samsung Pay a more accessible and attractive service. According to a recent interview with the head of Samsung Pay Europe, the next steps could be the addition of in-app purchases outside the Samsung Galaxy Apps, and the ability to make payments in virtual reality.
While Samsung appears to be dedicated to releasing its mobile payment service in more regions, the Korean company is also working on ways to improve the service in existing markets. There are several ways to do this, and according to the head of Samsung Pay Europe, Nathalie Oestmann, the company is now working on adding in-app purchases and support for online commerce. Interestingly enough, the company has also considered adding Samsung Pay support to virtual reality. Samsung already has a stake in the VR market following the release of the Samsung Gear VR headset, and according to Oestmann, the company has had conversations regarding the idea of being able to make purchases in virtual reality stores using Samsung Pay. “Some conversations we have been hearing about is how great would it be if you could enter a store with your VR headset[…]. You can click and pick what you want”.
It sounds like an exciting concept, but at this point, it could very well be just a pipe dream. Evidently, for VR purchases to become a thing, Samsung Pay would need to support in-app purchase and online commerce first and foremost. As yet no timeframes have been given in regards to when Samsung could add these features to its payment system.