Leaving behind Apple and Google, Samsung Pay is slowly and steadily expanding its reach to newer destinations across the globe. The Korean giant has today announced that it is releasing its contactless payment service in four new markets over the next two days.
As per an official press statement, the Samsung Pay’s services has made its official debut in the Nordic and Middle East region today. An early access program, similar to one started in India for testing out the service before an official launch, is now live in Hong Kong and Switzerland. This shows Samsung’s continued efforts to expand its reach further into Asia, as well as Europe.
With this launch, the Korean giant’s payment service has stepped foot in the Nordic region with Sweden being its first destination. It has also picked United Arab Emirates (UAE) as its initial launch site for the Middle East. These markets were added to the testing list earlier this month but it is now fully available to simplify payments. It has beaten both Android and Apple Pay in reaching the regions.
Now, Hong Kong and Switzerland have been added to their beta testing list. Samsung Pay is just one behind in this move as Apple, as well as Android Pay are already available in Hong Kong. Switzerland has only been conquered by Cupertino and Samsung Pay will be its prime competitor at this instant. It has not defined a list of smartphones the facility will be compatible with, as it did in India.
Commenting on the launch, Thomas Ko, VP and Global General Manager of Samsung Pay said:
Our launches in different parts of the world demonstrate governments’ and consumers’ changing attitudes towards progressing to a cashless society. It is through the interest and support of our partners that we are able to answer their needs by offering Samsung Pay in these markets.
We are incredibly proud of our rapid expansion and growth in such a short period of time and look forward to bringing the most comprehensive digital wallet to all our users around the world.
And for those unaware, this development comes on the heels of Samsung Pay’s recent intervention into India. It does come packed with a multitude of added features for the country, while the service remains mostly the same for other regions. Samsung integrated UPI payment transfer and Paytm support into its app for the consumers’ ease and to attract an even larger user base.
Samsung Pay is now available in 14 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and the United States. The service started in 2015 from South Korea, gradually making its way to U.S and crawled to other destinations as well. Hong Kong and Switzerland will raise the count to sixteen when they officially launch in a few days (or weeks).
In the blog post, Samsung has today added that Gear S3 smartwatch is also expanding its scope to complete payments using Samsung Pay to Russia, Sweden, and the UAE — following after US, Singapore, and Australia. It is expected to be made available in new regions very soon.
