NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Samsung today said it had “officially” launched its mobile payments service, Samsung Pay, in Sweden and the United Arab Emirates after “early-access launches” in these countries, making it the first of the global “Pays” wallets to fully launch in either the Nordics or the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Samsung said it also launched early access, or public beta, projects in Hong Kong and Switzerland. This, however, puts Samsung behind one or both of its Pays rivals, Apple and Google. Both Apple Pay and Google’s Android Pay launched in Hong Kong last year, and Apple also has launched in Switzerland, in the summer of 2016, though without support from major Swiss banks.
As NFC Times has reported, Samsung’s early-access program is similar to large public beta trials, as it prepares for full commercial launches. The two additional beta markets, Hong Kong and Switzerland, brings to 17 the number of markets where Samsung Pay has launched.