Samsung announced that it has joined forces with Visa. The new partnership will focus on mobile payments and, more specifically, on NFC technology.
The South Korean company said that the payment functions will be added to some of its upcoming products. That means that Galaxy S4 is very much likely to be one of the first Samsung devices to support Visa mobile payments.
Read more: Samsung to launch Galaxy S IV on March 14
For those of you who don’t know, NFC is the abbreviation of near field communications. This technology, as well as other mobile payment methods, was presented by a few companies at this year’s World Mobile Congress. There, MasterCard introduced its mobile wallet MasterPass, for instance.
But why is Samsung and Visa’s partnership so important? For one, this is the first time in which a NFC mobile device producer joins forces with a payment network. That means that the service has a big chance to develop and popularize among an impressive number of users. Also, Visa’s global head of product, Jim McCarthy, shared that the payment method will be much more “secure” that any other of this kind.
Currently, there are some mobile devices that use the NFC technology. However, the service still remains unpopular since the technology is yet to be adopted in most stores, banks and etc. In addition, consumers are not quite familiar with this payment method.
According to Visa, mobile payments have greatly increased over the last twelve months and are now amounting at 13 million monthly. Predictions about this innovative technology are that in only five years, devices that support NFC will reach nearly 2 billion units. Therefore, it is quite logical for Samsung to include the Visa mobile payment in their flagship and most promising product – Galaxy S4.
Both Visa and the South Korean handset manufacturer have experience in NFC technology. That means that we can expect to see something really effective and practical from them. Samsung’s new smartphone will be unveiled at a special event on March 14 in New York. So we will soon find whether Galaxy S4 will be among the Visa-NFC-enabled mobile devices.
