The South Korean company Samsung has communicated that the launch of its mobile payments service in the UK is finally delayed until next year, which would undoubtedly be a relief for the offers of big rivals, Apple and Google, which will still be able to count on one less competitor for a few months.
Samsung launched its own mobile payments platform Samsung Pay for the first time last year in the United States and South Korea and despite the fact that it had promised that the service would reach Great Britain in 2016, this has not been possible.
Negotiations with banks delay the debut of Samsung Pay in Britain
The delay in the arrival of Samsung Pay to the British Isles seems to be motivated by difficult negotiations with banks, "Tough to crack" in this and similar cases. A company spokesperson has confirmed that the service would go live in 2017.
"After the successful launches of Samsung Pay around the world, we are planning to launch the service in the UK in 2017."
Samsung Pay allows the owners of smartphones and smartwatches of the South Korean company to carry out contactless transactions in stores in a similar way to how it is done through Apple Pay and Android Pay. However, in the case of Samsung smartphones, since they work with the Android operating system, users can already perform this type of operations through Android Pay. Even so, Samsung wants to promote its own service because in this way it would significantly reduce its dependence on Android (Google).
On the other hand, Samsung has also been supporting Tizen, an alternative operating system that, if adopted more than in a few markets, would mean a total break with Android.
Additionally, Android Pay is incompatible with Samsung smartwatches, giving competitor Apple Pay a certain advantage.
The promise could not be fulfilled
During the Consumer Electronics Show held last January, and also coinciding with the launch of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung claimed that Samsung Pay would arrive in the UK this year, along with the other nine countries that have received it throughout 2016 after its premiere in the United States and South Korea in 2015.
Apple launched its mobile payments service in the UK in July last year, while Google launched Android Pay in May.
Another bad news after the Note 7 crisis
Without a doubt this is not good news for the South Korean company. The United Kingdom is a powerful market, one of the most important in the entire Old Continent, and any delay could be "giving away" potential users to the competition. In addition, we cannot forget the proximity of this news to the Galaxy Note 7 crisis, which has meant not only a considerable economic decline for the company, but also a reputational and credibility crisis from which it needs to recover as soon as possible.
The delay in the arrival of Samsung Pay to the UK after having promised it several times, does not exactly encourage you to regain lost confidence on the part of the users. However, we must not forget that this decision does not only depend on the company, if not also from the banks, and that both parties must reach an agreement.
Next February, taking advantage of the Mobile World Congress 2017 held every year in Barcelona (Spain), Samsung will present its new flagship, the Galaxy S8, a device from which great innovations are expected, including a storage option up to 256GB, between 6 and 8 GB of RAM and even an iris reader that would serve, among other things, to unlock the terminal. The impact of this device, accompanied by the launch of Samsung Pay in Great Britain and, perhaps, other countries, could significantly help the recovery of the company.