Samsung Electronics Co on 19 February 2015 acquired US-based mobile wallet startup LoopPay. The acquisition is aimed at launching a smartphone payments service to compete with Apple Pay of Apple Inc.
Samsung had also invested in LoopPay, along with Visa Inc and Synchrony Financial, before its acquisition.
LoopPay's technology is different from Apple Pay as it works off existing magnetic-stripe card readers at checkout, changing them into contactless receivers. About 90 percent of checkout counters already support magnetic swiping.
On the other hand, Apple Pay allows iPhone users to pay at the tap of a button. Moreover, more than 2000 banks now support it and the US government will accept Apple Pay by the end of year 2015.
Status of Mobile payments in the US
Mobile payments have been slow to catch on in the United States and elsewhere, despite strong backing. Apple, Google, and PayPal of eBay have all launched services to allow users to pay in stores via smartphones.
The weak uptake is partly because many retailers have been reluctant to adopt the hardware and software infrastructure required for these new mobile payment options to work.
These services also fail to offer much more convenience than simply swiping a credit card.
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