Samsung Adds 50 Gift Cards To Broaden Appeal In US

The mobile payment wars are definitely on. Although it has actually been in existence for quite a while now, Apple's formal entry into that budding market gave it an air of legitimacy and, to some extent, urgency. Samsung, of course, is trying to leave its mark there as well, especially in the ripe market that is the US. Today, it is again trying to widen the gap with its competitors by announcing the addition of 50 popular merchant gift cards to its Samsung Pay platform.

Gift cards and coupons are a huge thing for avid shoppers, especially in the US. Unfortunately, they are also sometimes the last thing people think off when trying to get both merchants and consumers to a wireless payment system. As such, they usually get implemented later. But better late than never, right?

Samsung Pay adds some of the most popular gift cards for some of the most popular stores in the US. That list includes the likes of Babies"R"Us and Toys"R"Us, , Domino's®, eBay, GameStop®, and Nike, and more. What makes Samsung Pay's gift card spport a bit interesting is that it also comes with a store where you can actually buy such gift cards, which makes it a lot easier to transition to purely digital transactions.

Samsung Pay is, admittedly, already an interesting proposition itself. Unlike most wireless payment systems, like both Apple Pay and Android Pay, Samsung's implementation supports both NFC and EMV terminals, which means It should have, in theory, broader support than either Google's or Apple's systems. As for banks and issuers, Samsung Pay does have a rather limited roster of supporters, such as American Express, Bank of America, Citi, and Chase to name a few.