Samsung just can’t stop doing it; it must launch a new watch every few months. Just when we thought they’re done for the moment with the Gear S, we’re hearing that another device is in the pipeline.
The reason is obvious – the Apple Watch can be used for mobile payments and that’s not possible with none of the current Samsung smart watches. Though an app and firmware upgrade could enable something like that.
Nevertheless, Samsung wants to nail wearable payments and provide the most secure experience possible. So they are (apparently) working with Synaptics to include their fingerprint sensor to the mix and make a smart watch that is backed by biometric security.
If we could believe these rumors, such smart watch will be officially announced at next year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. And if the Korean company manages to make it available at that time, it may still get some of the users who wanted to grab Apple’s product for seamless payments. Or not; a big portion of Apple’s user base is notorious for NOT picking products made by other manufacturers.
In addition to Synaptics, Samsung will also engage PayPal for the deal, which means that just about any online business will be able to take cash from your wrist; as well as the growing number of brick and mortar stores. Perhaps they even find a way to tie in your credit card information and make the next Gear smart watch compatible with a number of different POS terminals.
At this point, we can only speculate what Samsung is cooking in its labs. That’s until we get some additional information, which will most likely be leaked before Sammy goes all official with its fifth Gear smart watch. “Watch” this space…
[Via: G4Games, BusinessKorea]