Samsung Acquires Mobile Payment Company LoopPay
by Brandon Chester on February 18, 2015 4:19 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- LoopPay
Today the US based mobile payment company LoopPay announced that they have been acquired by Samsung Electronics America.
LoopPay is a unique example of a payment company that is building their payment system on top of the existing magnetic stripe payment infrastructure that currently exists in the US, rather than using NFC technology which can require waiting for retailer support and the purchase of new payment terminals for stores. Currently the company offers several smartphone cases as well as a keychain fob, and these devices wirelessly interface with the magnetic stripe readers on payment terminals.
It will be interesting to see how Samsung integrates LoopPay's technology into future products, and how they will handle expansion outside of the US where many countries have switched to chip and pin card terminals.
Source: LoopPay
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quiksilvr - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
This makes absolutely no sense. Why would you buy a company that is using magnetic stripe payment? The U.S. is already moving towards SIM and PIN cards (and NFC) so the lifetime this will have is maybe a few years before credit card companies fully enforce SIM and PIN (as they should).Can we just take a step back, look at the situation, and realize that the future is NFC/SIM and PIN, make standard terminals that can read them, and let Google, Apple, Softcard, whatever make whatever the hell app they want that works with it?
solipsism - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
To me, this seems like a reactionary answer to Apple Pay, not a well considered plan for advancing the convenience and security of digital payments. I think Apple's use of NFC with unique, per-device numbers and tokens that are only known by your financial institution, with additional authentication measures in the hands of the banks as the best method for everyone. I hope for the sake of Samsung's customers they plan on doing more than merely adding LoopPay to their devices.toukale - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
Not again samsung. I know copying Apple back in the day putted you on a successful stretch until last year. But your obsession with that fruit company will lead to your downfall. If you still don't get it, Apple is not your main competitor anymore, the Chinese oem's are. So stop with having the urge to put a check mark next to whatever Apple marquee feature of the day is. Perfect example, Apple introduced siri, here comes a shittier version of s-voice. Touch id, samsung rolled out a half baked fingerprint reader. Apple Pay, hey we need something to counter those guys. Samsung, while you keep obsessing about Apple, the Chinese oem's are eating your lunch.taligentia - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
The problem is Samsung doesn't want to compete with the Chinese OEMs. They want to be like Apple at the high end with their premium margins. Only problem is that they have no concept of "polish".SkyBill40 - Friday, February 20, 2015 - link
What's ironic is just how much Apple has copied Samsung over the years. Don't try to say they haven't either seeing as it's obvious.Also, Apple didn't do anything with Siri other than buy up the company that was making it for ALL three major platforms at the time. Apple? Innovative? Right. Innovative means doing something of your own, not buying up companies and trying to pass it off as something you did.
web2dot0 - Friday, February 20, 2015 - link
So you think getting into payment is a good thing for Samsung? You are funny."Copy" if you must, but don't do something you know it's gonna fail .... "EPICALLY". lol
It's so sad to see you grasping straws.
$178B Cash, $75B revenue ... more profit made than anyone can imagine ...
Samsung on the other hand .... not so much.
SkyBill40 - Saturday, February 21, 2015 - link
I didn't say Samsung getting into the NFC/wireless payment scheme was a great idea but really it's a foregone conclusion. They've had third party payment of that sort for YEARS now. It just humors me to see Apple acting like they came up with it first.You have no idea how successful Samsung will be with this or not. Seeing that they're one of the largest tech companies in the world with money to burn on it, I'm going with them being just fine over your opinion. Talk about "grasping at straws"...
aryonoco - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
Baffles me that the US still uses magnetic strips.Here in Australia, we've had NFC chips built into our credit and debit cards for over 3 years, and every single POS register and bank as well as Visa and Master Card support it. You just wave your card in front of the machine and the payment goes through. No swiping anything, no PIN and no signature.
This is also why the "novelty" of Apple Pay is lost on me.
Flunk - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
It's the same in Canada and all over Europe. This only makes sense in the US and not for very much longer either.Brandon Chester - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
Many countries that have NFC chips on the cards have a limit on how much can be spent in a transaction due to the fact that it has no authentication. In Canada it's $20, and I believe it's 20 or 30 GBP in the UK. Apple Pay has no such limit.