Diplomatico

Well, the hoopla for this card certainly disappeared quickly. It doesn't appear to be particularly competitive in its intended category...or is it just me that thinks that?

jeffersun

What kind of ongoing hoopla were you expecting? This same kind of comment has come up several times. It was a new premium card. It effectively earns 3% at a large proportion of storefronts. People expecting simple MS at 3% were swiftly met with the wrath of usbank. Couple that with some difficulty in getting approved, and here we are. What else is there to talk about? No one has had the card even 2 months. I'm about to hit min spend. As an everyday card it has some standing. It's effectively 3% cash back with mobile pay. I never used android pay before, and now I use it everywhere it's available.

Is it a keeper after the first year? Doubt it. With Q3 5% categories and a new amex BBP coming in the mail, my AR likely won't see much action, but it will be sitting in my android wallet, at the ready

mikesyr18

Would have to say it's less about privacy and more about pinching pennies. Apple failed at the NFC game and was owned by Samsung yet again.

pdxer

Not even close to reality.

tmiw

None of the services are doing all that well in the US, frankly, hence the need for promotion offers from the banks/providers and the 3x on the Reserve card.

yugi

Samsung Pay works almost everywhere, and this is much more places than Apple Pay. I pay with Samsung Pay exclusively now, and I see a lot of "wows" in the places where nobody paid with a watch before. Everybody thinks that's Apple Pay, though. People don't know that Samsung or Android Pay even exist. AR with Samsung Pay is basically 4.5% everywhere card.

pdxer

Samsung didn't create Samsung Pay. They bought a company called Loop Pay, which spoofs the magstripe reader. It may work in a lot of places, but it's not secure.

Researcher Finds Second Security Flaw In Samsung Pay

To your second point, the fact that people assume it's Apple Pay and don't know that Android Pay and Samsung Pay exist means that Apple doesn't need to do anything.

tmiw

It's one thing for people to know what any of the mobile wallet services are. It's another entirely to get people to actually use and demand them, which is going to be necessary to get some stores to bother to enable the functionality on their terminals (or include them as a method of payment in their mobile app or website).

In any case, this discussion may be better suited for this thread.

yugi

Samsung Pay is as secure as AP, it also uses tokens and virtual card numbers. In order for AP be supported, you need NFC, and Samsung Pay doesn't need anything. Yes, Samsung bought a company, and Apple bought nothing, and they just use NFC, so Samsung was smarter than Apple.
And even if it's not secure I don't care that much, because the bank will refund any fradulent charges.

pdxer

Samsung Pay is the least secure of the three (see here) and Apple didn't need to buy anything to play in that space.

mikesyr18

Better to have a virtual form of MSD built into the phone for the time being until lazy Americans can embrace NFC, while our cheap merchants upgrade as slow as molasses in January.

mikesyr18

1. Apple didn't create many of it's products, but they certainly market them as so. Apple didn't even create the idea of NFC payments, Google had it long before Apple put the technology in their phones.

2. Your phone is still given a separate card number in Samsung Pay, so it works just like Apple Pay.

3. The fact that people assume it's Apple Pay is due to the way Apple Products are loved by Americans even though they make inferior technology. Americans are lazy and will cling to whatever used to be the best and most popular method without researching the truth.

I think I would love this card but don't think I would be approved for it, and I'm not about to go out and open a U.S Bank checking account either.

tmiw

My original point is that people apparently don't feel the need to pay with their phones, regardless of how the phone does it. Apple licensing the MST tech from Samsung probably isn't going to help, but making paying with a phone rewarding might. It's like how ISIS/Softcard was giving out tons of offers up to the end.

Google's implementation never worked that well. International use was blocked entirely, for instance--not to mention that because Google was the one ultimately charging your card, people potentially lost out on a lot of credit card rewards.

Also, Apple's products do work well for some. I personally use an iPhone because I was never happy with Android's power management and didn't want to spend tons of time rooting and experimenting to get that close to right. I wouldn't really call it "inferior" but maybe some have different priorities.

mikesyr18

I guess if you count big fat bezels, no MST, no 3.5mm jack, and LCD screens as technology that isn't inferior, you're right.

pdxer

Google Pay was not the same as Apple Pay/Android Pay and failed for several reasons. What matters is doing the best job, not being first. But if you want to argue who was first, Apple was first to offer paying with a watch. Android Wear just added paying with a watch last year, and most Android Wear watches don't support it at all.

And Apple does create its own products, right down to the processors in their mobile devices.
A separate account number doesn't make something secure. So far, not one but two security flaws have been found in Samsung Pay, compared to none in Apple Pay.

The main reason Apple Pay is more secure is because iOS devices have a secure enclave and nearly all Android devices do not.

In fact, some Android devices store fingerprint images in the clear.
Nonsense. People assume it's Apple Pay because Apple Pay is more widely used than Android Pay. Samsung Pay works at more locations but that doesn't mean it's used more.