By Tom Phillips
Samsung and Naver Financial have launched an integrated mobile payments service in South Korea that enables Naver Pay users to make in-store payments with their smartphone at outlets accepting Samsung Pay and Samsung Pay users to make online payments at ecommerce merchants supporting Naver Pay.
The launch came the day after Apple Pay went live in the country and follows the signing in February of a strategic partnership deal between Samsung and Naver designed to maintain their mobile payments market leadership in South Korea.
The integration of the two services means that Naver Pay users will now be able to make in-store payments from their smartphone using Samsung Pay’s magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology at some 3m merchants across the country, according to Naver Financial.
To date, users of the Naver Pay service have been able to make in-store payments via QR code at 120,000 merchants nationwide.
Samsung Pay users will also now be able to “use simple payment through Samsung Pay at 550,000 Naver Pay online ordering merchants, including Naver Smart Store”, Samsung adds.
