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Samsung Takes On Apple Pay By Acquiring Mobile Wallet Startup LoopPay

Posted by samzenpus on from the circle-of-business dept.

An anonymous reader writes Samsung is buying major Apple Pay and Google Wallet competitor LoopPay. "Our goal has always been to build the smartest, most secure, user-friendly mobile wallet experience, and we are delighted to welcome LoopPay to take us closer to this goal," JK Shin, Samsung co-CEO and head of the company's mobile business, said in a press release. "What's a real differentiator is this uses technology that's in stores today," David Eun, executive vice president of Samsung's global innovation center, said in an interview. "We don't have to wait for a point in the future where there are a lot more [NFC-enabled] terminals."

4 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Strongly Worded... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seems that "Takes On" is probably far too strong a term for what Samsung is doing. "Desperately tries to remain relevant by hitching itself to an already obsolete payment method" is probably closer to the truth.

    1. Re:Strongly Worded... by bluemonq · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you want "too strong a term", how about the submitter calling LoopPay a "major" competitor. That one is truly hilarious.

  2. Aren't retailers going to be upgrading anyway by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The article points out how LoopPay can more easily work with existing terminals, and ApplePay needs retailers to get new terminals.

    But aren't most retailers going to be upgrading in the near term anyway? The U.S. is moving to credit cards with chips now which mean most serious retailers will be upgrading. The little retailers are probably mostly going to upgrade also, once Square supports ApplePay because you don't want to pass up those customers.

    It's a nice try but I don't think it will get much traction no matter how easy it is for retailers to support, since they have to convince the customer first...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. ...letmegetthisstraight by pushing-robot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So it amplifies and broadcasts the signal held on the magnetic stripe of an old-style credit card. The completely unencrypted, insecure data that has your card number AND the 3-4 digit verification number.

    Why? Because modern card readers will never catch on, of course! Especially when retailers will be tripping over themselves to switch to the new smart readers in a year, since the credit card processors will hold them responsible for any fraud resulting from still using the old gear.

    This is a train wreck. Good on LoopPay for convincing some sucker to buy them before their product falls on its face.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?