Samsung has announced its plans to acquire Apple Pay competitor LoopPay. The two companies discussed a partnership as far back as December.
LoopPay’s system stores payment information from a debit or credit card’s magnetic stripe, and then transmits the info to standard point of sale terminals in lieu of the actual card. Unlike Apple Pay, LoopPay does not require the terminal to be NFC capable.
Currently, LoopPay works as a combination of an app and a standalone hardware device, such as a phone case. However, Samsung is expected to explore ways to include the technology in its upcoming smartphones, as an alternative to Apple’s iPhone 6/Apple Pay combo.
“This acquisition accelerates our vision to drive and lead innovation in the world of mobile commerce. 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,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT and Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics.
While LoopPay doesn’t offer the same security benefits as Apple Pay, such as tokenization, it does offer the ability to store ID’s, and loyalty and membership cards in addition to credit cards.
(Via MacRumors)
