Samsung Pay, which debuted in South Korea in August 2015 and became available in the US in September, will be the only payments system available to mobile-phone users at the Games, according to Haley Kim, the units vice president.
South Koreas largest company is competing against Alphabets Google and Apple to capture a piece of a market. For all three companies, mobile-payments services are a way to entice consumers to pick their devices, whether its an Android phone, iPhone or Galaxy.
More than that, Samsung already has 42% market share in Brazil, according to Gartner, and the company is banking on its Pay service to draw in new users despite the countrys deepest recession in at least a century.
Samsung, a corporate sponsor of the Games, is selling a Galaxy Edge S7 limited edition with the Olympic rings and colors. The mobile-payments system also will be available to users of S7, A5 and A7 models, among others, Ms. Kim said.
Samsung differentiates itself with technology that mimics a magnetic-stripecard when a phone is used with a stores physical-card reader. This lets retailers accept mobile payments using their existing check-out equipment. The same technology will be applied in Brazil, according to company.
The company is partnering with Banco do Brasil and Banco Santander Brasil as local credit card issuers, among others.
Since its launch last year, Samsung Pay has signed up 5 million users in the US and South Korea and reached USD 1 billion in transaction volume in South Korea, according to Samsung. The service is also available in China, Spain, Australia, Singapore and Puerto Rico.
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