Samsung testing Samsung Pay with local companies to address difficulties

Samsung is believed to be targeting the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 in September as the official launch of their new Samsung Pay platform. Samsung Pay was already delayed from a joint launch with the Samsung Galaxy S6 earlier this year. However, Samsung reportedly is struggling with technical issues prompting the company to test with local companies to get more “real world” feedback. Sources indicate Samsung is having trouble getting the system to work as smoothly as desired, especially with older equipment still used by retailers.

Samsung Pay, which incorporates technology from Samsung’s acquisition of Loop Pay, is unique in that will create a magnetic field that replicates the magnetic strip found on the back of credit and debit cards. This means Samsung Pay could be used at existing pay terminals that retailers already have installed rather than requiring an investment in NFC capable readers.

Samsung is apparently dealing with two different issues in getting the system to run in a manner that will encourage its use by consumers. First, the process of authenticating using a fingerprint sensor built into a smartphone that then triggers the magnetic field for a given card is still experiencing a high number of errors. Second, the huge number of different pay terminals – over 100 with more than half over 10 years old – is presenting problems in getting the pseudo-magnetic strips to be recognized.

Samsung really needs the platform to work as smoothly as possible in order to see it become widely adopted. Existing pay systems from other vendors continue to struggle in the marketplace for acceptance. The inclusion of the magnetic field technology is believed to be a key to Samsung’s success as it eliminates the “will it work or not” question consumers may have when trying to use Samsung Pay at a retailer.

source: BusinessKorea

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