Imagine a world where any merchant can collect a payment without any additional equipment beyond their Samsung phone. An article in Uber Gizmo suggests this may become a reality for mobile payments at least, through a potential partnership between Samsung and Hankook NFC.
All offline mobile payment services currently rely on the Value Added Network or VAN to directly communicate with the payment company. Hankook NFC, a startup focusing on mobile payments, has developed a new module which eliminates the need for a VAN.
What that simply means it that merchants will no longer need special terminals or equipment to accept mobile payments, all they’ll need is a Samsung smartphone with Hankook NFC’s module and access to Samsung Pay. This module is also what will allow users to send money between Samsung devices.
Merchants can get processing hardware inexpensively from providers like Square for use with their existing mobile devices, so the cost of devices is not a real hurdle. And this service is limited to Samsung Pay users, but if this process allows small merchants to avoid network fees because the transaction is a Samsung Pay to Samsung Pay closed loop interaction, it could have a lot of appeal.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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