Samsung will be launching a mobile web payments service for all smartphone gadgets that run by the Android operating system in South Korea. The tech giant made the announcement that the system will be launched in the first quarter of the year.
The service launched by Samsung will be called Samsung Pay Mini. It will enable Android smartphone users to conduct online transactions in the home country of Samsung after downloading the app. Whether or not the service shall be available in other markets was not disclosed by the company.
The Indian Express states that this announcement surface in light of Samsung looking to bolster its services offerings in a pursuit for greater growth. In the last quarter of 2016, the South Korean company fell behind in the global smartphone market against its rival: Apple Inc.
It was the first time for Samsung to fall behind since 2015's last quarter caused only by the abolishment of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and their fire-prone nature. The existing Samsung Pay payments platform which enables users to conduct offline debit or credit payments via a smartwatch or supported Samsung smartphone is improved by the new service.
Rivals of the platform are none other than Apple Pay of Apple and Android Pay of Google. Previous statements by Samsung executives confirm that at some point they are open to providing Samsung Pay services for smartphones that are non-Galaxy. There are also plans to ultimately include online transactions to the mobile payments platform.
On Thursday, the company said that the offline payment capacity will stay limited to Samsung devices. As of right now, the company does not profit from the transactions made by Samsung Pay users. The firm hopes that service's convenience will usher more users to opt for Samsung products.
Recently, Samsung released the Android 7.0 Nougat update for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge users and began teasing the Samsung Pay facility, too. The feature is expected to roll out soon in more countries.
