Samsung Pay on Gear S2, S3 sparks smartwatch pay war with Apple

Samsung has joined Apple in offering users the ability to pay by flashing their smartwatch across a retail terminal.

Customers who buy Samsung’s new Gear S3 smartwatch or who own last year’s Gear S2 model will be able to pay at shops with the flick of a wrist. Samsung users already can use Samsung Pay with recently released Samsung smartphones, but today’s announcement extends this to smartwatches as well.

An ability to make payments from a Gear S2 and S3 watch with Samsung Pay will give Australians yet another layer of convenience when shopping and will let them make payments quickly and easily, says Richard Fink, Head of IT and Mobile Division at Samsung Australia.

“For the first time, Australians will be able to use Samsung Pay to tap their Gear wristwatch and purchase their Christmas gifts, pay for their coffee while on the run, or pay for their taxi ride, all without the need to carry a wallet or smartphone.”

People who exercise can listen to music stored on their watches with a Bluetooth headset and then head for a coffee and pay with it, all without needing a wallet or phone.

“We have already seen an incredible uptake of Gear wearables in Australia, as well as Samsung Pay for Galaxy smartphones, which makes this an exciting and compelling solution for customers,” says Mr Fink.

The catch is that Samsung Pay currently works with card supplied only by two financial providers: American Express and Citi.

The watches make payments on retail terminals that use both Near Field Communication (NFC) and Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST).

On Gear devices users authenticate a transaction by entering a 4-digit PIN.

Samsung Australia hopes to increase the number of financial institutions that use Samsung Pay.

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Source: Samsung Pay on Gear S2, S3 sparks smartwatch pay war with Apple