Garmin Pay Ecosystem Expands with New Smartwatch

The Garmin Pay mobile payments system for wearables has further expanded, this time through a new version of the Vivoactive 3 Music smartwatch.

The new wearable was announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. In its core specs, it’s pretty much the same as the last version of the device, able to store about 500 songs, and featuring built-in GPS and the Garmin Elevate biometric heart rate monitor.

But it also features a big new feature in LTE connectivity, thanks to a partnership with Verizon; and it sports new safety features including a system designed to detect when the user has suffered an impact while running or biking, and to send an alert to emergency contacts in such an event.

Its mobile payments feature, meanwhile, is still powered by NXT-ID subsidiary Fit Pay, allowing users to make contactless payments just by waving their wrists in front of a POS terminal. Commenting on this latest integration of the payments system, Fit Pay President Michael Orlando suggested that the new Vivoactive 3 Music’s incorporation of mobile payments, music playback capabilities, and LTE connectivity makes it “a triple-threat device”.

The device’s launch marks another small step in the evolution of mobile payments technology, which is finding its way into a growing number of devices as more users embrace connected wearables.

Source: PCMag, Fit Pay