Samsung Pay has proven both popular and profitable during its first month of use in South Korea, according to the company. On Wednesday, Samsung announced that its mobile payments system took in more than $30 million in transactions in South Korea between August 20, when it launched, and September 20. The service has been successful with merchants and users, Samsung touted, generating more than 1.5 million transactions and recording around 36 percent of its users as active during the first month, with 10 percent of them using it every day. Samsung Pay is the company's own mobile payments system, which lets users pay for items on the go at supported merchants using their smartphones. Following its launch in South Korea, Samsung Pay will sail to the United States on September 28. And that's where the real challenge begins. Once in the US, the service will go head-to-head against Apple Pay and Google's Android Pay.
But Samsung Pay carries one distinct advantage. Apple Pay and Android Pay require NFC (near-field communications) support from merchants. Samsung Pay can work with non-NFC technology, so retailers don't have to upgrade their equipment. However, Apple Pay has a huge head start, having launched almost a year ago in the US and now available in the UK. This has given Apple the necessary time to sign up major banks, credit card companies and merchants. Samsung will have to go through the same lengthy process in order to gain a foothold in the US. Both services are also trying to make a dent in overseas markets. Samsung Pay is scheduled to expand to the UK, Spain and China soon, Samsung said. Apple has run into roadblocks launching Apple Pay in regions such as Australia and China due to concerns from banks over the high cut of transaction fees that the iPhone maker demands.
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