PayPal missed out on Apple Pay because of Samsung

Apple Pay is rather a big deal. NFC payments haven’t really kicked off since their inception, but with Apple partnering up with so many business and brands it’s not hard to see that it’s going to be big. One of the people not involved is PayPal, and it’s Samsung’s fault.

According to Bank Innovation the talks between Apple and PayPal were “massive”, but it all fell apart when it became clear that PayPal had partnered up with Samsung to use fingerprint-authenticated PayPal services on the Galaxy S5.  The talks began early in Apple Pay’s development because Apple reportedly wanted PayPal’s expertise onboard for their own mobile payment system. Then PayPal announced the deal with Samsung and everything went to hell, reportedly “infuriating” Apple and causing the company to ditch the talks with PayPal.

The Samsung deal also apparently caused conflict internally at PayPal, with eBay CEO John Donahoe firmly in favour of the Samsung deal, and then PayPal President David Marcus opposing the deal due to issues it may cause with Apple.

Now Apple Pay is launching without PayPal integration, and PayPal is partnering with Samsung to create an NFC enabled smartwatch. Will we ever see PayPal integrated with the iPhone 6’s mobile payments system? Who knows. Only time will tell.

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