Samsung has acquired mobile payment solutions provider LoopPay, the companies have announced. The acquisition will see LoopPay’s management team enveloped in Samsung’s Mobile Division.
LoopPay’s innovative mobile payment solution could be a major boon for Samsung as it wades into an mCommerce war with other giants like Apple and Alibaba. LoopPay’s technology essentially turns existing traditional card readers at the POS into contactless receivers, and the company says that its system works for about 90 percent of all POS terminals. Now that this technology is in Samsung’s hands, the company could have an edge over the competition – at least in the case of Apple Pay. That service requires certain technology on site – namely Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities at the POS. While such technology is already widespread in some regions, in others – such as the United States – it isn’t, and that has made the service’s rollout a bit of a bumpy ride.
Samsung hasn’t exactly been coy about what it plans to do with LoopPay. Speaking in a press release, Samsung Global Innovation Center EVP David Eun said the partnership would offer “consumers a mobile wallet solution that is not just safe and reliable, but also widely accepted at more locations than any competing service,” adding that the deal will allow Samsung to “significantly accelerate our mobile commerce efforts.”
They’ll have to be quick about it. Apple Pay is quickly gaining ground and credibility. Given how Samsung has struggled against its rivals lately, however, we can be sure that the company is hungry to gain some ground, if not with smartphones themselves than in some other, new direction. Mobile commerce could be that avenue.
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