Samsung has made a bold move in the mobile payments space adding PayPal as a payment source for Samsung Pay.
The option to use PayPal as a payment source is being rolled out to Samsung Pay users in the US initially, with Samsung announcing they will be expanding the option to other countries soon.
In addition to helping customers, Samsung says merchants who use Braintree, a PayPal payments subsidiary, will be able to add Samsung Pay as a payment method to their apps and online stores.
In Australia, Samsung Pay has support from 38 financial institutions, including AMEX, Westpac, Citi Bank and a host of Cuscal backed partners. Though Westpac is on-board, notable absentees include three of the ‘big 4’ banks in Australia, but adding PayPal as a payment method would short circuit the need for banks to add individual support if customers want to use it.
Samsung has not announced any expansion of Samsung Pay to more handsets, so you’ll still need to use one of the higher end Galaxy S, Note or A series handsets or the Gear S2 or S3 watches.
Exactly how long it will take Samsung and PayPal to roll out support to other markets hasn’t been announced. It will be a welcome addition though for the many Samsung users in Australia whose banks have yet to jump on board once it does arrive.
“adding PayPal as a payment method would short circuit the need for banks to add individual support if customers want to use it.”
Yep. I’m never going to change banks just for the ability to use Android Pay, but I’d love to see PayPal as an option because then I wouldn’t have to bother. Although I’m guessing PayPal’s fees are going to make it very unlikely that we will see it as a form of payment in Android Pay. Google won’t want to give up the revenue.