NFC Times Exclusive – NFC Times has learned new details about how Samsung intends to make money from its planned payments service, Samsung Pay; as well as the technology architecture the OEM will use and the identity of two unannounced banks, along with a new category of issuer that is planning to participate.

Samsung, which announced Samsung Pay March 1 in unveiling its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6, and curved-screen companion, the Galaxy S6 Edge, is seeking to compete with Apple Pay, the NFC-enabled payments service launched last fall by its U.S.-based rival. 

Samsung said it plans to launch the service in the U.S., using both NFC and proprietary mag-stripe mobile-payments technology, as well as in South Korea in the summer. The mag-stripe application would bring acceptance to what backers claim will be 90% of POS terminals in the U.S., though it remains to be seen how accessible many terminals will be for consumers to tap in on magnetic transmissions with their phones. NFC will be the default technology, used if the terminal supports contactless.