Samsung may soon roll out its mobile payment system in Canada, according to a Twitter user who contacted a customer service rep with the company.
The technology giant is reportedly going to launch Samsung Pay in Canada next month. According to a Twitter response from the company’s customer service rep, the service will become available for its Canadian users in the first week of November.
The company’s response came after a Twitter user, Saifali Maknojiya, asked a Samsung customer service representative about reports indicating a November release.
Android Central showed a written response from Samsung representative who said: “Please know that these services will be made available from the first week of November, 2016 in Canada. And, initially the service will be launched with CIBC Visa cards.”
The company is said to initially support only CIBC Visa cards and it is unknown when more cards will be included. It is also possible that not all CIBC Visa cards will be supported by the payments service at first. Moreover, it is unclear when the platform will expand to other banks like AMEX and MasterCard.
Earlier this year, the company already confirmed that its Samsung Pay will be launched in Canada in 2016. “Earlier this year, Samsung Canada confirmed Samsung Pay will be available in Canada in 2016. We remain committed to this plan and will share more details shortly.”
In the meantime, the company’s main competitor Apple has announced the expansion of its mobile payment platform to Japan. The country is one of the company’s biggest markets where mobile payments have been in use for more than ten years.
In general, the volume of mobile payments has significantly increased. Apple has recently unveiled that its Apply Pay purchases grew by 500% YOY in the third quarter. The main reason for the growth of payments is the company’s latest regional expansion, including those in China, Canada, and Australia. In addition to Japan, Apple Pay was launched in Russia this month and there are still many countries where the service is unavailable.
Last week, another mobile payment service provider Android updated its Android Pay service what triggered rumors about the possible launch of the platform in Canada. The latest version 7.1 of the service includes references to Interac, Canadian debit card payment network, what hints at a possible integration with Canadian debit cards. However, there is no official confirmation that the platform is to be launched in Canada.
Seems like South Korean tech giant LG is going to join Apple and Samsung in their effort to make payments easier and faster with a new mobile payment solution. According to industry sources, the company is planning to integrate the Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology into its next flagship smartphone LG G6.
The main difference from Android Pay and Apple Pay, is that the MST can be read by older magnetic credit card machines, what means that LG’s new mobile payment platform could be used at all retail stores.
next