Samsung Pay, the proprietary mobile payment solution developed by Samsung Electronics, will go into a beta service.
This is a service that is activated once a Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge installed with a Samsung Pay app is touched on the conventional magnetic card reader. Samsung's newest service, made possible by the acquisition of LoopPay, a U.S. electronic payment start-up, early this year, will put itself in a tripartite competition with Apple Pay and Android Pay of Google.
Samsung Card, a credit card unit of Samsung Group, said on July 6 on its website that it would recruit Samsung Pay Beta Testers by July 10. Qualifications for applicants are limited to those owning a smartphone (Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge only) and a Samsung credit card under their names.
The beta testers will register their credit card on the Samsung Pay app and use the card every time they go to card-accepting stores. The beta test will be held from July 15 to August 20.
Samsung Pay supports both near-field communication and magnetic secure transmission technologies, meaning that the user can either touch her mobile phone on the card reader or swipe her card on the machine, thereby allowing the merchant to use the current card reader without the need for purchasing a new NFC-enabled machine. The service will be available in more than 30 million merchant locations across the world.
