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Earlier today, Walmart announced an update to its iOS app which would bring yet another way of paying for things using your mobile device. It’s called Walmart Pay and it’s the company’s latest effort to sidestep services like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay in their stores. While the premise is essentially the same as other mobile payment services, Walmart is changing things up a bit.
Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay all use you device’s built-in NFC chip to communicate with the terminals (with the exception of Samsung Pay, which can also use the magnetic strip reader as well). Walmart Pay, however, makes use of QR codes which would be scanned at the terminal during check-out and take funds from whichever credit card the user has on file inside the app.
Walmart Pay was met with mixed reactions when it was announced late last year due to its commitment to CurrentC. CurrentC is another competitor in the growing world of wallet-less payments, but this method avoids any transaction fees from banks or those imposed by the tech companies.
Obviously, with Walmart’s unwilling to accept anything other than its own method of wallet-less transactions, only time will tell how well Walmart Pay will really work out. Since Walmart Pay only works at Walmart stores — unlike competing services that work at other stores, vending machines, etc. — its reach is far more limited.
Today’s announcement didn’t mention exactly when the service would be headed to Android, but we expect it will soon arrive in a future update (it’s already available on iOS). Drop us a line below and let us know what you think about Walmart Pay and if the service has a sustainable future competing against the likes of Google, Apple and Samsung.
Download on Google Play: Walmart
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