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Samsung wants to promote its Samsung Pay mobile payments service to users of its latest Galaxy smartphones. So the company is offering a free wireless charging pad to customers who sign up for Samsung Pay by Nov. 8.
The free charging pad will be provided when a customer with a compatible phone registers with a valid credit or debit card number at a special registration Website.
The special offer is open to customers who are at least 18 years old and who are U.S. residents. Applicants must have leased or bought a Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ or Samsung Note 5 smartphone to receive a free charging pad, according to the company.
Participants must also install and activate the Samsung Pay app on their smartphones by Nov. 8, according to the offer. Not all carriers and credit or debit cards are compatible with Samsung Pay. Users can check the Samsung Pay Support page for a compatibility list.
The online claim form must be submitted by 11:59:59 p.m. ET by Nov. 15 to qualify for the offer. Verizon Wireless is also offering the same deal, but applicants can only redeem it at one of the sites. Full terms and conditions for the offer are available for review.
The Samsung Pay mobile payment service, which the company launched in the United States on Sept. 28, allows users to pay for purchases using their Samsung smartphones in just about every retail location through its acceptance of multiple payment systems, from near-field communications (NFC) to traditional credit card readers and swiping terminals, according to the company. Samsung Pay also integrates Samsung’s Knox mobile security platform, which uses one-time codes to authenticate purchases rather than transmitting a user’s personal or credit card information.
Samsung Pay enters a market that also includes Apple Pay, Android Pay and other mobile payments services. In October, JP Morgan Chase announced it is also jumping into the expanding mobile payments marketplace with a planned Chase Pay service that will launch in mid-2016.
The Chase Pay service will allow customers to pay for goods and services in-store, in mobile apps or for online purchases at retailers, including Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Shell. The service will be available to some 94 million Chase credit, debit and pre-paid card account holders.
Chase is partnering with Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), which is building a mobile payments service called CurrentC, according to Chase. Chase Pay will roll out to merchants that accept CurrentC, which will also process Chase Pay transactions. MCX services are available through more than 100,000 retail locations in the United States. Chase is partnering with 17 technology vendors so that other retailers can also offer Chase Pay services to their customers.
Samsung has been hit hard in recent years by lower sales of its mobile phones, which have been losing ground to cheaper phones from Chinese handset makers, and from stiffer competition from Apple and other competitors.
After reporting disappointing financial results for the last seven quarters, Samsung posted third-quarter revenue and operating profits that were up 8 percent and 37 percent, respectively, from the same period one year ago.
In its Oct. 29 earnings report, Samsung announced third-quarter revenue of $45.2 billion (51.68 trillion Korean won) and an operating profit of $6.4 billion (7.39 trillion KRW), up from $41.6 billion (47.45 trillion KRW) in revenue and $3.6 billion (4.06 trillion KRW) in operating profit posted in the third quarter of 2014. The latest quarterly revenue rose about 6 percent from $42.5 billion (48.54 trillion KRW) in the second quarter.
Despite the better numbers, Samsung’s mobile unit continues to underperform as third-quarter operating profit for the unit fell 13 percent to $2.1 billion (2.40 trillion KRW) from $2.4 billion (2.76 trillion KRW) in the second quarter. The good news was that third-quarter operating profit was still up 37 percent from $1.5 billion (1.75 trillion KRW) in the third quarter of 2014.
The company’s IT and mobile products division posted third-quarter revenue of $23.3 billion (26.61 trillion KRW), up about 2 percent from the $21.5 billion (24.58 trillion KRW) posted one year prior.