Samsung Pay now official in India: Mobile Payments Service.

              Recently the entire internet has been flooded with massive leaks about the upcoming Galaxy S8 & S8 Plus while speaking of which Samsung has been determined to retain its image due to the uncertain events from the past. The company has geared up for its global launch of the upcoming Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus tomorrow which would be happening on 29th March 2017. While we're excited about the same, the company has been progressively moving ahead when it comes to bringing world-class innovations at its core. As a result of which on 22nd March 2017, the company took a major stand in specifically digitizing the economic transactions in India by launching "Samsung Pay" service. Samsung Pay is a service launched to make your transactions cashless with some added benefits, which is a welcome change when it comes to demonetization. Now some of us might be wondering why didn't the company go ahead with Android Pay and launched a new ecosystem? Well, Android Pay functions only on NFC, whereas when it comes to "Samsung Pay" you don't require NFC chip to make transactions. As you can simply wave/tap your phone on any swipe-in machine and the payment gets initiated. It is that straightforward and secure as it integrates company very own "Knox" feature. You don't require any necessary hardware for the payment to take place, though "Samsung Pay" is made available only for select Samsung devices. Let's dive deep to know more about the same.

                So Samsung Pay works with company's very own patented Magnetic Secure Transmission(MST) technology, which can be called as a breakthrough when it comes to digital payment services. Along with MST, Samsung Pay also supports NFC payments. Though as we all know not every store supports NFC payments service; at least in India. To counter that MST works like a charm, with MST technology when a user waves/taps his/her smartphone over any standard card payment reader, the phone transmits electromagnetic waves which replicate the gesture of an ordinary credit/debit card swipe. Sounds like a science fiction movie right? Since that is how we felt when we tried it for the first time at the launch event. So essentially you can perform transactions with the help of your Samsung smartphone anywhere across the country. On top of that, the company has tied up with PayTM & Indian Government's UPI App(BHIM) while provided support built right into the app. Samsung has also partnered with several card networks and issuers such as Visa, MasterCard, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, American Express, Axis Bank, SBI Card and Standard Chartered. Whereas Citibank India is also jumping on the bandwagon, and they'll soon support their credit cards on Samsung Pay in the coming months.



                The UPI integrated into the Samsung Pay app which is backed by Government of India would be a lot helpful, as it features functions such as transferring funds from any bank account. Though it is an upcoming feature, it'll be useful in future as it would serve justice to the word - "Make In India" campaign. Jumping on the security features, the company triggers up to three tokens of security layers while initiating a payment via "Samsung Pay." It goes like - Fingerprint Authentication, Card Tokenization, and the final layer consists of the Samsung Knox security platform. Following is how a typical transaction via Samsung Pay functions:

• First, fire up the app and add your Debit/Credit card details. 
• Select a particular card & authenticate via Fingerprint/PIN to initiate the payment gateway.
• Next simply take your phone towards the Standard POS Card Reader.
• Now the POS Card Reader will get your details, so go ahead and enter your PIN, after the seller enters the required amount.
• Next thing you know is that the transaction is complete.

               On the launch, Mr. HC Hong, President & CEO - Samsung Southwest Asia shared his thoughts, “Samsung Pay is an example of how we continue to push the boundaries of innovations to make life simpler & better for consumers. I am confident that Samsung Pay will redefine digital payments & contribute to a Digital India.”

               Mr. Thomas Ko, Global GM of Samsung Pay also took the stage to address, “When we launched Samsung Pay, our goal was to enable consumers across the globe to make payments that are simple, secure & accepted almost everywhere. Over the past year and a half, this vision has evolved into building a complete digital wallet solution, allowing customers worldwide to not only make payments but also use membership & transit cards, receive deals and rewards and more.”




               Samsung Pay might change the face of digital payments as it's implementation​ is just flawless. Any Shop Owner/Business person doesn't require to have access to any specialized hardware. While on the other hand, we as a user don't need to carry our Credit/Debit cards for succeeding any transaction. It'd be quite helpful if you forgot your wallet at home. That being said the company has made this service available on select devices only. It's available only on the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, Note 5, S6 Edge+, Galaxy A5(2016, 2017) & lastly the Galaxy A7(2016, 2017). Upon asking the officials present at the event whether why it doesn't support on devices such as Galaxy S6, S6 Edge; they said that "Samsung Pay requires special hardware to function." Although to my knowledge both the Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge both are having a better hardware than A5 & A7. But then why Samsung?

               They also showed us a demo on up to how this service would make it's way onto their wearable ecosystem starting with the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch. Though it was in the development phase and it'll be available to the masses in the coming months.

Was Samsung Pay Launch too late in India?

              It took Samsung a bit long to announce Samsung Pay in India if you consider the demonetization point into perspective. But it is quite good to see that they thoroughly tested their platform before announcing it in the country. After globally launching in July 2015, Samsung Pay is now available globally in 12 markets & just this past week, India joined the league. We have got a dedicated video on the Samsung Pay service which would be soon posted on our Youtube Channel, so make sure you're subscribed. So that's almost everything which we got to know about the Samsung Pay service if you want to know more visit here. 


Link to download the app: Samsung Pay.