LG G Pay could take on mobile payment services from Google, Samsung, and Apple:-
LG G Pay could take on mobile payment services from Google, Samsung, and Apple
LG might be planning to enter the crowded mobile payments market in the near future, according to rumors from South Korean sources. An LG executive apparently confirmed a payment service is on the way at the LG V10 event, and applied for the G Pay trademark in South Korea and the United States shortly afterwards. Now, more details are emerging.
Updated on 11-18-2015 by Malarie Gokey: Added a new report from Korea, which quotes an LG executive as saying G Pay may launch in December in Korea with select partners.
A mid-November report from the Korea Times quotes an LG executive as saying the mobile payment service may launch as early as December. The company reportedly hopes to sign deals with Korea’s two largest credit card providers, Shinhan Card and KB Kookmin Card to kick off G Pay.
“We will sign a deal with some of the country’s major card companies before officially launching our mobile payment platform,” an unnamed executive told the Times.
If LG does introduce its own mobile payments platform, it would follow the trend of LG tagging onto thethings its larger and more successful regional rival Samsung does. The Galaxy S6 maker recently launched Samsung Pay, a new intuitive payments service that works with any card reader, regardlessofwhether it supports contactless cards or NFC-based mobile payments.
LG is reportedly working with financial services in South Korea to enhance G Pay. It may use NFC to connect the cash register to the mobile or wearable, jumping on the bandwagon of support for contactless payment in the U.S. and Europe. This would make it easier for LG to gain support, since it can latch onto all the same retailers whose payment terminals work with Google’s Android Pay and Apple Pay.
G Pay has apparently been in testing for a few months now. LG allegedly ran small tests in South Korea on the Watch Urbane and LG G4 in cooperation with local prepaid brand Cashbee. The fingerprint sensor on the LG V10 will support both payment services, sources say. LG is also expected to add a fingerprint sensor on the LG G5, its next flagship, which usually launches in the first half of the year.
The announcement of G Pay won’t mean that LG will block Google’s Android Pay. The company reportedly intends to support Android Pay with Android Marshmallow on its future devices alongside G Pay.
G Pay doesn’t sound like a huge advancement in the mobile payments market, but LG might be able to bake in more payment support than Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, to make G Pay more versatile. The report claims we should see G Pay by the end of the year, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see it arrive with the LG G5, similar to how Samsung Pay came along with the Galaxy S6.
Read more: Tech Crunch
