Samsung buys LoopPay
Samsung announced it has purchased Apple Pay competitor LoopPay for an undisclosed amount. LoopPay doesn’t rely on NFC but instead existing magnetic strip readers that close to 90% of retailers already have installed. Apple Pay been catching on, but only 5% of retailers currently support the NFC mobile payment system.
Android has Google Wallet, but Samsung doesn’t offer any payment system that competes with Google wallet or Apple Pay. If Samsung took the route of leaving NFC out of the mobile payment system it could been a huge boast to mobile payment, but at the same time push the work that Apple has done further back. Google Wallet was one of the first mainstream NFC payment systems, and Apple Pay has pushed retailers to install POS to support NFC payments in more stores.
LoopPay uses similar technology that’s currently in credit cards. The magnetic secure transmission requires users to buy a $59.95 card case or $10 key fob, in order to make the mobile payments. This can make paying with LoopPay awkward and almost more difficult than using Apple Pay or Google Wallet. The case is bulky and ugly, and the key fob sounds annoying and something I would forget about.
If Samsung builds the technology into their Galaxy S6 it could be appeal because it will be supported in so many stores, but how secure the technology is still a question I have. If LoopPay is built into one of Samsung’s flagship phones this could slow the roll out of Apple Pay across the country.
Tell us in the comments below what you think about LoopPay and it possibly being built into the Galaxy S6 and the possible impacts on Apple Pay.