Samsung Electronics’ plan to launch Samsung Pay Mini in Korea is expected to intensify online payment competition with local internet and mobile giants Naver and Kakao.

Samsung said Thursday it would “launch Samsung Pay Mini in March to enable Android users to pay online with the app.”

It allows users to conveniently pay online with their credit card information saved via a smartphone running on Android 5.0 Lollipop and with a high definition display. Since the app does not support magnetic secure transmission, it cannot be used at brick and mortar stores.

Samsung, which initially wanted to make Samsung Pay Mini available for both Android and iPhone users, gave up the plan for iPhones as Apple refused to adopt the service. Samsung Pay Mini will also be used only in Korea initially. The company said it is unsure whether it will expand the service overseas.




The nation’s largest smartphone maker has already seen success in the local mobile payment market with Samsung Pay. 

Samsung Pay, which was launched in August, 2015, is a simple payment service allowing users to pay at stores by simply hovering their smartphones over the card reader. Samsung, as a sole provider of the mobile payment service here, has dominated the market with more than 5 million users.

For the online payment market, however, Samsung still has to face fierce competition with local online behemoths Naver and Kakao, which jumped into the market a few years ago.

Currently, search giant Naver has the largest user base in the local online payment market with Naver Pay. The payment service, which was launched in June 2015, has more than 21 million users and can be used at around 120,000 online stores.

Kakao Pay, which was launched in September 2014, follows Naver with more than 13 million users in connection with the nation‘s largest mobile messenger Kakao.

With the launch of Samsung Pay Mini, the local online payment market is expected to grow further with fiercer competition, experts said. 

“The intensified competition will lead to bring about better services for customers. The online payment market is expected to see further growth in Korea, driven by a growing demand for easy online shopping and more relaxed regulations,” said Kwon Gyu-nyeob, a government official at the ICT Ministry’s convergence new business division.

The nation’s average online payment per day stood at around 250 billion won ($218 million) last year, which is equivalent to about 100 trillion won annually, according to the Bank of Korea,

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)