The Samsung Pay Mini online payments app expected to go live in South Korea this month will be compatible with Apple devices as well as Android smartphones, according to ETNews. “Samsung Electronics is planning to provide this application for free and has designed it so that it can be used on all smartphones such as iPhones and LG Electronics’ phones,” the publication reports. News that Samsung is preparing to roll out the Samsung Pay Mini app emerged last week.
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The advantage of Samsung Pay over Apple Pay is that it works with (magnetic stripe) swipe readers. It does this using a proprietary technology called Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) that Samsung got when it acquired Loop Pay. This means that Samsung Pay works at many more places than Apple Pay that only works at NFC contactless terminals. MST is now an exclusive feature of late model Samsung phones.
One assumes that Samsung Pay Lite, running on an iOS phone, will lack this advantage. Samsung Pay Lite might still enjoy some edge in Samsung’s Asian markets but not much in North America.