Samsung Pay to debut in September

By Bahk Eun-ji

Samsung Electronics unveiled its strategies for new businesses ― the Internet of things (IoT) and Samsung Pay ― during its investor relations forum at the Hotel Shilla in Seoul, Wednesday.

It said it will start Samsung Pay in September, when the company releases its new flagship handset in Korea and the United States.

“Samsung Pay will be a new growth engine for Samsung, at least for the next three to four years,” said Rhee In-jong, executive vice president of the B2B and payment group at Samsung.

Rhee said one of the main concerns about the mobile payment system was that it had not been used as much as payment by credit or debit cards.

However, Samsung Pay had solved the problem by acquiring LoopPay in February, a U.S.-based start-up. It had technology that originally allowed shoppers to pay for goods by placing hardware near a payment terminal where customers usually swiped credit cards.

Samsung said it would place a piece of coiled chip, acting like an antenna, inside its handset’s back cover so users could make payments by touching the phone to the terminal.

The technology covers existing near-field communication (NFC) payment systems, so nearly 90 percent of stores would be able to use Samsung Pay in the United States, Rhee said.

The company also thought about a method to protect credit card information, which users stored on their device, through its own security system, Knox. Instead of sending credit card information, it would create a one-time PIN for each payment.

The vice president also said the idea of the mobile payment system was to enhance customers’ lifestyle through Samsung’s mobile devices.

“We hope Samsung Pay will help to increase sales of the Galaxy series, not the other way around,” Rhee said.