Tech giant Samsung announced that its mobile payment platform, Samsung Pay, was release for beta testing in its native country of South Korea. The service was released to 1,000 beta testers and is expected to be launched alongside the Galaxy Note 5.
When Samsung bought startup company LoopPay in February, many industry analysts speculate that the company is working on its own mobile payment platform. Five months after the acquisition, it looks like Samsung is serious in entering the mobile payment market and going head-to-head with established brands like Apple Pay and Android Pay.
Will most mobile payment platform like Apple Pay and Android Pay uses Near-Field Communication to process transactions, Samsung's approach is a little different. According to CNet, Samsung uses Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) which is almost a similar technology to the one integrated in credit cards.
With MST, Samsung takes the data usually stored in a credit card's magnetic tape and wirelessly beam the information into a credit card reader. So while NFC-based mobile payment system like Android Pay and Apple Pay needs a special equipment in order to process transactions, Samsung Pay, using MST, will work perfectly fine with standard credit card readers that do not have NFC support.
Currently, the beta test phase of Samsung Pay only supports Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge owners. However, the company is working on to release and integrate the feature into more devices in the near future.
According to Ars Technica, Samsung did not say when the new feature will be released. However, the company said that the beta test period is "in preparation for the full rollout."