Samsung SDS and Syniverse Team Up to Develop Universal Mobile Wallet

Syniverse has formed a strategic partnership with Samsung SDS that will lead to the development of a universal mobile payments platform. The two companies came to the table to sign a Memorandum of Understanding during the recent CES event in Las Vegas.

The new payments platform is designed to be wallet-agnostic, which is to say that anyone with a smartphone should be able to take advantage of the technology. The joint solution will blend Samsung’s Nexledger Universal platform with Syniverse’s Universal Commerce blockchain technology, as well as the latter’s Mobile Engagement platform.

The result will be a mobile payments platform that will be compatible with any mobile operator, anywhere in the world, thereby getting around the platform limitations of first-party applications like Apple Pay and Samsung’s own Samsung Pay. The universal solution will make it easier for users to send money (or other currencies) to a merchant or another mobile customer. It will also be compliant with international security regulations, and is expected to facilitate transactions in a variety of different industries, ranging from travel to retail to entertainment.

“Our goal is to establish universal financial transaction trust for every connected device in the world,” said Syniverse President and CEO Dean Douglas. “We intend to design a mobile wallet that solves some key challenges of mobile payments and builds trust in a mobile user’s identity, device and transaction.”

“Today the cost to consumers and merchants is too high,” added Samsung SDS America President Scott Koo. “Nexledger Universal and Syniverse create the opportunity to lead the market in delivering a frictionless phone-to-phone or phone-to-merchant payment engine for secure, simple exchange of value.”

Syniverse previously integrated Pinn’s behavioral biometrics technology into its global platform to stay ahead of Europe’s PSD2 and GDPR regulations. Samsung is emerging from a strong CES where it unveiled a new Digital Cockpit and emphasized the importance of personalized technology experiences. A recent Samsung Pay update gave users the ability to block the sale of their personal data, a move that was taken in response to California’s incoming CCPA legislation.