Though Apple gets all the press and glory, Samsung’s smartwatch is out there and may soon include a payments feature much like its Cupertino-born rival.
A high-ranking official at Samsung Electronics commented, “We are currently developing the smart watch equipped with fingerprint identification technology and relevant solutions through cooperation with PayPal, the world’s most renowned financial transaction service company, as well as Synaptics, a global company specialized in biometric verification. By the earliest, the third generation smart watch to be released early next year will have this new system in which payment is authorized immediately when users identify themselves through biometric sensors such as a fingerprint or login,” reports Business Korea.
The payment function allows users to access promotional information of stores close to their current location. The watch will then allow wearers to choose products before actually entering a store and make payments upon the receipt of the goods. Transaction information and account balances can also be checked through text messages.
The smartwatch with payments is expected to roll out during the Mobile World Congress in 2015. Samsung Electronics is already planning to expand its pay service from the current 25 countries to more than 50. Interestingly, one of the nations not on the initial rollout list is Korea, given that the phone manufacturer’s home country does not currently have PayPal. Samsung is reportedly considering building an internal payments system for Korean customers.
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