Samsung to Launch Apple Pay Alternative

Samsung is set to shut down its Wallet feature to make room for Samsung Pay, a rival for mobile payment services like Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

Samsung is shutting down its Wallet mobile payment service as the firm prepares to launch Samsung Pay in a bid to take on Apple Pay.

The company said in a statement to ClickZ’s sister publication, V3, that it will terminate the mobile payment service at the end of June.

“On June 30 2015, Samsung Wallet will be discontinued except in Korea, as part of our long-term business strategy with Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay will be available in the US and Korea this summer,” said a spokesperson.

Samsung said on the Wallet partners website that the closure of Wallet was due to poor adoption of the service.

“Unfortunately, the usage rate of Samsung Wallet was not what anyone expected,” Samsung said.

“One of our company’s core values is to guarantee the best user experience. We feel today that we can no longer guarantee this experience.”

“This is why we have officially decided to discontinue Samsung Wallet on June 30, 2015 in all counties. We greatly appreciate all your support and enabling Samsung users to enjoy your content and service through Samsung Wallet.”

Uptake of the Samsung Wallet may not have been what the company had hoped, but it will be replaced in part by the Samsung Pay mobile payments service that brings contactless payments to the firm’s mobile devices.

Samsung Wallet began life as a digital wallet for virtual versions of loyalty cards, vouchers and coupons, rather than the full payments service that Samsung Pay will bring in when it launches this summer.

Contactless payment in shop

Samsung Pay will look to take on Apple Pay, a contactless payments service for iPhones, iPads, and the Apple Watch (pictured below). It will also challenge Google Wallet, the search company’s native payments service for Android devices.

Samsung’s acquisition of LoopPay allows Samsung Pay to offer payments through Magnetic Secure Transmission and near-field communication (NFC), meaning that it can work with many existing payment terminals, not just those with NFC compatibility.

This could give Samsung an edge over Apple in the contactless payments space.

Apple Pay on Apple Watch

With three major technology players entering the mobile payments market, Apple, Google and Samsung face a standoff over contactless payment services.

This article was originally published on V3.

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