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    A Primer On Samsung’s Response To Apple Pay

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1932 Views
    JK Shin, CEO of Samsung's mobile division, shows the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, during a Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2015 event on the eve of this week’s Mobile World Congress wireless show, in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, March 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

    Q&A on Samsung's new mobile-payment technology; here's what's we know

    By Anick Jesdanun, Technology Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    Last fall, Apple launched Apple Pay, bringing mobile-payment technology to the iPhone. Samsung now wants to get that on Android phones — at least the ones it makes.

    The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge phones announced Sunday will come with mobile-pay capabilities. Samsung's payment service won't come until this summer, and will launch only in the U.S. and South Korea at first. Here's what's known about Samsung Pay and how it compares with Apple Pay and Google's own efforts for Android.

    Q. How does Samsung Pay work?

    A. As with Apple Pay, customers will simply tap their phone on a retail store's payment machine. Apple and Samsung phones use a wireless technology known as near-field communication, or NFC. The payment machine also needs NFC, something many merchants won't have until this fall.

    Samsung is supplementing NFC with a technology from LoopPay, a startup it's buying. LoopPay replicates the magnetic-strip signals on plastic cards, so it works with more merchants. While NFC transactions can be authorized through the phones' fingerprint sensors, LoopPay transactions might still require a physical signature.

    Q. If there's LoopPay, why bother with NFC and the equipment that entails?

    A. As a retrofit for older, magnetic technology, LoopPay has its limitations. Some parking meters and transit-fare machines require you to insert a card into a slot. You can't just stick a phone with LoopPay into that slot. At some stores, the place for swiping the card is behind the counter — out of the customer's reach.

    LoopPay is meant as a transition. Bill Gajda, a senior vice president at Visa, says LoopPay will help get customers more comfortable with mobile payments, as more merchants will accept them. As merchants see customers make such payments, they would be more likely to upgrade equipment to NFC.

    Q. How secure is Samsung Pay?

    A. Samsung Pay, like Apple Pay, promises to be more secure than plastic. With both services, the merchant gets a substitute 16-digit card number stored on the device. A verification code is created for each transaction, based in part on unique keys on the phone. Even if hackers get that substitute number, they need the actual phone for the verification code.

    That said, LoopPay's stand-alone technology uses the regular card number, and magnetic signals are easy to detect and replicate. Samsung is working with both Visa and MasterCard to make substitute numbers available with LoopPay on the phones to boost security. James Anderson, a senior vice president for mobile at MasterCard, says the bank issuing the card needs to participate. If they don't, some card holders might not be able to make mobile payments, even with the right phone. Samsung says participating banks will include American Express, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and U.S. Bank.

    Q. Will merchants be able to block Samsung Pay as CVS, 7-Eleven and a few others have done with Apple Pay?

    A. Yes, but not easily. With NFC transactions, it was a matter of turning off the NFC chip. Samsung Pay has the magnetic backup, so it will be tough to turn that off without rejecting plastic cards, too. Merchants could potentially work with their payment processors to deny ranges of card numbers assigned as substitute account numbers, Gajda says. That's unlikely, but not impossible.

    Q. What about Google's own payment service?

    A. Google recently teamed up with Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile to have its Google Wallet payment service built into Android phones sold by those carriers. Google also is buying some technology from Softcard, a payment venture owned by the three wireless carriers. Both Google Wallet and Softcard use NFC.

    Unlike Samsung Pay, Google Wallet will work on Android phones sold by other manufacturers. Samsung phones sold by those three carriers will have both services. Customers must pick one to use — so that they won't end up paying for everything twice.

    So far, Google Wallet uses regular card numbers, without the added security from substitute numbers used by Apple Pay or planned with Samsung Pay.

    Q. Will Samsung Pay work with other phones?

    A. Future phones will likely get it, too. Older models likely won't work, though. Although they have NFC, they don't have LoopPay.

    Category:News
    Tags:Apple PaySamsung



    A Closer Look At Proposed Measures Designed To Curb Google’s Search Monopoly

    Thursday, November 21, 2024

    U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade.

    The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google's business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser and syndicating its search data to competitors. Even if the courts adopt the blueprint, Google isn't likely to make any significant changes until 2026 at the earliest, because of the legal system's slow-moving wheels.

    Here's what it all means:

    What is the Justice Department's goal?
    Federal prosecutors are cracking down on Google in a case originally filed during near the end of then-President Donald Trump's first term. Officials say the main goal of these proposals is to get Google to stop leveraging its dominant search engine to illegally squelch competition and stifle innovation.

    "The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."

    Not surprisingly, Google sees things much differently. The Justice Department's "wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision," Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer, asserted in a blog post. "It would break a range of Google products — even beyond search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."

    It's still possible that the Justice Department could ease off on its attempts to break up Google, especially if President-elect Donald Trump... Read More

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