Mobeam, a pioneer in mobile barcode beaming technology, today announced the incorporation of its technology into Samsung Pay, making it easier for owners of over 400 million Samsung phones to redeem their gift cards, loyalty cards and coupons at checkout points in retail stores. Prior to the incorporation, Mobeam technology has been used in Samsung Pay to enable users to redeem their barcode-based gift cards. Since POS laser scanners at retail stores are usually unable to scan barcodes stored in smartphones, the incorporation of Mobeam technology was critical for Samsung Pay to compete effectively with rivals like Apple Pay and Android Pay.
Mobeam technology makes it much easier for POS laser scanners to read barcodes by beaming an invisible light into a scanner which responds to the beam and reads the reflection of the barcode. For users, this does not require any added effort as the process is as simple as making any other contactless payment using Samsung Pay, but apart from making cashless payments, users can now effectively redeem their barcoded gift cards, loyalty cards and membership cards to save up and earn points in the process. “Since the laser scanner is the most widely used scanner in grocery stores, drug stores, and mass merchandiser chains, mobile wallet shoppers are otherwise left with a hybrid process that still requires the inconvenient manual use of plastic and paper,” said George Garrick, CEO at Mobeam. “Retailers and brands benefit from the use of barcode beaming by creating a more convenient shopping experience for their customers, as well as the opportunity for improved targeting of offers, faster and easier checkout and transaction clearing, and enhanced security that reduces opportunities for fraud,” he added. With more and more Samsung phones beginning to field the Samsung Pay technology, the use of Mobeam technology will grow exponentially in the coming months.
The use of Mobeam technology in Samsung phones was first mentioned back in 2013 when it came to light that the Samsung Galaxy S4 was compatible with Mobeam’s ‘light-based communications’ or pulses of infrared light to communicate directly with barcode scanners in point-of-sale systems. At that time, the technology could be used to scan barcodes in just over 165 million laser scanners installed in point-of-sale systems worldwide. Even though the concept of cashless payments via NFC wasn’t as popular as it is now, the technology was nevertheless embraced as a great sign of things to come in terms of smartphone technologies. Mobeam’s popularity was further boosted by the fact that it required no additional software or hardware to be installed in smartphones and was compatible with all types of scanners.
