Samsung Electronics has demonstrated its "Samsung Wallet" service to the public, with much admiration and anticipation. The company that has sold more than 400 million mobile phones and 200 million smartphones is now setting out to take on the electronic wallet business. The company held a Samsung Developer Day on February 27 at Barcelona's 2013 Mobile World Congress and made available its Open API for Samsung Wallet service. The service allows users to make e-commerce transactions quickly and securely by linking coupons, membership cards, admission tickets, and flight passes.

Samsung Wallet can be used by scanning the barcode appearing on the screen on the store's payment terminal. A Samsung official said that the near-field communication (NFC) feature in the wallet is not yet available as most retailers have not been ready for such terminals. But the company has opened up the possibility by allowing the NFC function to be mounted on the device.

Of course, this is not the first time for any company to launch an e-wallet service of its own. In Korea, for example, SK Planet has introduced "SmartWallet" while KT has debuted a similar service "MoCa." Major banks, such as Hana Bank and Shinhan Bank, have their own versions of e-wallet services. Overseas, Google, Apple, and PayPal are vying to take the No. 1 position in this area, with Google Wallet Service, PassBook, and PayPal Digital Wallet, respectively.

Global News Network 'AVING'
by Jessica Kim (www.aving.net)