NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Wearables maker Garmin has unveiled its second major smartwatch supporting its Garmin Pay service, the Forerunner 645, a high-end device that follows the Vívoactive 3 in enabling users to tap to pay.
Payments wearables, a market that has been lagging behind expectations, could get a boost from Garmin and other major smartwatch makers this year, which are enabling their high-end devices for payments. But it remains to be seen if wearables makers in general see payments as a must-have. That has not been the case so far.
Both the Vívoactive 3 and Forerunner 645, when the latter is released, will support credit and debit cards branded Visa and Mastercard. The Forerunner 645 comes in two versions–with and without the ability to download and play music–and both will be able to support NFC payments. Like the Vívoactive 3, the Forerunner 645 is targeted at fitness enthusiasts.
