According to a BusinessKorea report, Samsung may turn its Samsung Pay commercial-free service into a paid service.
South Korean financial authorities say Apple Apple Pay’s 0.1 percent and 0.15 percent fees could be levied not only on consumers and stores but also on credit card companies. Apple and Samsung are expected to levy payment fees on merchants and others. South Korea’s Naver Pay and Kakao Pay are expected to eventually adopt this business model as well.
While Samsung has yet to comment on the arrival of Apple Pay in South Korea, based on metrics, Samsung Pay could lose a significant user base in the country. Samsung Pay has become the largest digital card payment service in South Korea with its Galaxy smartphone. It debuted in August 2015 and currently has a user base of 16 million, with cumulative payments of about 182 trillion won (currently about 970.6 billion yuan, or about $139.8 billion).
The NFC technology used by Apple Pay is based on the EMV contactless standard of Europay, MasterCard and Visa. Samsung Pay, which supports both MST and NFC, has been available for free since its launch. Only a service activation fee was charged.
Industry sources said, “Samsung Electronics launched the free service to increase and retain Galaxy smartphone users, but Apple Apple Pay is changing the market and Samsung Electronics may consider charging a fee.” Apple will work with South Korean credit card company Hyundai to bring Apple Pay to customers in that country. Apple Apple Pay will be coming to South Korea “soon,” but the exact timing has not been announced.
