Samsung has agreed to acquire mobile wallet solutions provider LoopPay to accelerate its mobile payments efforts. LoopPay will remain independent but will work closely with Samsung’s Mobile Division.
Founded in 2012 in the US, LoopPay uses Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology to turn retailers’ existing magnetic stripe readers into contactless payments receivers. It claims to be accepted by over 10 million merchants – over 90% of retail locations in the US.
Samsung’s handset revenue has been declining in 2014 in contrast to Apple’s biggest quarterly earnings in the latest quarter. To offset loss, Samsung has been investing into software, from launching Samsung Wallet in 2013 to the acquisition of SmartThings in 2014. It has also previously been involved in payments, partnering with Visa in 2013 to preload payWave onto its NFC devices.
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