LG Could Enter Mobile Payments With ‘G Pay’

The mobile payments market could be about to get another high-profile competitor following speculation LG is set to launch its own branded service.

Reports from the company’s home nation of South Korea have said that the smartphone maker has registered the name G Pay both there and in the United States as it looks to enter the payments market.

Such a move would appear to propel the firm directly against Google’s Android Pay system, which would probably be included in future LG smartphones

Pay up

Although registering the name does not mean LG is set for an imminent launch, the report also adds that LG has been investigating rival mobile payments offerings while also “sharing information” with credit/debit card companies.

It’s not known yet what form G Pay will take, such as whether it will incorporate NFC technology or also include magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology like Samsung Pay does.

If complete, we could well see G Pay appear in future LG smartphones such as the expected LG G5, the successor to the company’s last flagship, which was revealed back in April, or as an addition to its brand new V line, which saw its first launch, the dual-screen V10 device, (pictured above) last month.

LG would hope for a similar level of success as Samsung Pay, which is set to launch in the UK later this year. Following its launch last month, Samsung revealed that the service had been used for $30 million (£20m) worth of transactions – equivalent to nearly $1 million (£660,000) a day – during its first month of operation in the company’s homeland of South Korea.

After months of speculation, Google also finally launched the first phase of Android Pay last month, revealing that it would now be available to use at around one million stores in the United States.

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