Samsung Pay, Android Pay and Apple Pay are the three most high-profile mobile payments systems that have gone live in the last one year. Apple Pay, the more mature of the three, is already in use in various countries and supported by the last two generations of Apple’s mobile devices while Samsung just introduced its alternative, Samsung Pay, in its home market of Korea to much success and has been testing the same in the United States. Android Pay just went live in the United States. LG, too, doesn’t not want to be left behind.
News from the Far East indicate that LG is preparing to launch its own mobile payments service. The Korean company, probably inspired by the success of rival Samsung in its home market with Samsung Pay, has already applied for trademarks to the “G Pay” name both in the United States and Korea setting off speculation that it could be on to something.
While it is not unheard of for a company of LG’s standing to do so, the company is a key player in the mobile space and obviously it won’t sit around and do nothing. Korean publication ET Times hints at LG’s mobile payments service offering even more capabilities than Samsung’s. Samsung Pay allows for mobile payments to be made on both NFC-enabled and legacy magnetic stripe terminals since it supports both technologies thanks to a system Samsung acquired from startup LoopPay.
