Samsung Acquires Mobile Payment Company LoopPay
by Brandon Chester on February 18, 2015 4:19 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- LoopPay
Today the US based mobile payment company LoopPay announced that they have been acquired by Samsung Electronics America.
LoopPay is a unique example of a payment company that is building their payment system on top of the existing magnetic stripe payment infrastructure that currently exists in the US, rather than using NFC technology which can require waiting for retailer support and the purchase of new payment terminals for stores. Currently the company offers several smartphone cases as well as a keychain fob, and these devices wirelessly interface with the magnetic stripe readers on payment terminals.
It will be interesting to see how Samsung integrates LoopPay's technology into future products, and how they will handle expansion outside of the US where many countries have switched to chip and pin card terminals.
Source: LoopPay
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aryonoco - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
$20 is paltry! It's $100 in Australia, which covers pretty much all daily transactions.But in either case, that's not a technical limitation, it's a business decision on the part of the card issuing companies, and it can be changed in future.
Brandon Chester - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
No, it's not just a business decision. Do you want someone who steals your card to be able to walk into stores and spend hundreds of dollars? Obviously you probably won't ultimately be held responsible for the fraud, but it's still a hassle for both you and your bank/card issuer. Security will not be an issue with Apple Pay like it is with cards that allow you to make transactions with no verification.Murloc - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
that's why it's a business decision. It's not a technical limitation.hughlle - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
I don't want someone stealing my card and spending £10. Why i just got a replacement card without contactless.Even if i had apple pay etc, i'd still take a wallet, or can you use apple pay to get physical money from an ATM? Where i live (s.e London) 90% of the businesses do not take any form of electronic payment, the few that do either have a minimum spend or charge 50p per transaction regardless of amount. Nope, i'll still keep my wallet for the ability to withdraw cash.
Murloc - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
it's like that in most of the world, at least for street food vendors.Anyway I think you're overestimating the risk as the stolen money usually gets returned and you have to lose your card in the first place, so losing money has a quite low chance of happening, but whatever, I guess since you're not using it at all, it's better to have 0 risk.
I know I've tried to use mine but either the personnel doesn't know about it and just wants to use the classic chip and pin system despite having the contactless reader right there, or it doesn't work/connect/it's a waste of time.
KPOM - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
But that basically increases fraud risk for banks (which gets passed along to customers in the form of fees or reduced benefits). Setting a high limit for PIN/signature-less NFC transactions negates the advantage of going with a chip card in the first place.Frihed - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
That's true for cards, but using a smartphone this type of transaction have the potential to be much safer.Friendly0Fire - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
Most merchants in Canada seem to be using $100 as a limit actually. That's the official Interac limit and I've had numerous instances of paying >$20 with NFC using a credit card.Brandon Chester - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
Oh really? I seem to remember being quoted $20 by TD. Perhaps the agent was mistaken, or its gone up.Flunk - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
The rep you talked to must be an idiot, I have a TD card and it's $100.