With its mobile payments service Samsung Pay, the leading South Korean electronics firm is considering closing a gap with Apple by allowing users of the service to make in-app purchases.
Samsung Pay, which is currently available in South Korea, the US and China, enables users of Samsung smartphones to quickly make payments at bricks and mortar stores. This makes it an obvious rival of Apple Pay; however, the latter differs in allowing for speedy in-app purchases, too.
At the Money 2020 conference on Tuesday, Nathalie Oestmann, head of Samsung Pay Europe, told CNBC that “we have in-app, that is on our road map, online commerce, being able to pay online with Samsung Pay is very important.” However, the news outlet does not mention whether Oestmann cited any specifics about when this feature will actually be rolled out.
In any case, making observations similar to those that have been noted about the effectiveness of in-app Apple Pay, Oestmann said: “People are browsing retail sites. Many are browsing but only a small number are paying. Merchants will want to close that gap, banks would like to close that gap, if you use Samsung Pay in an in-app capacity, you won’t have to re-enter card details.”