Apple and Samsung are two competing tech giants who will never see eye to eye on many things. To make this ongoing battle even more intriguing, Apple has now officially banned the Samsung Pay Mini app from its App Store. It remains unclear why this decision was made, but Samsung has already told the media that they will solely focus on Android devices moving forward.
Samsung Pay Mini App Not Welcome on iOS
Any payment application that can compete with Apple’s own Apple Pay will be scrutinized a lot more compared to other applications. That is only to be expected, as the technology giant enjoys offering its locked-down ecosystem to users, and does not want other companies to compete with their offerings. One of those competitors is Samsung, who have their own mobile payment applications.
Or to be more precise, Samsung had its own payment apps available to iOS users. Last night, Apple decided to ban Samsung Pay Mini from the Apple App Store for an unknown reason. This is not an entirely surprising decision, although some experts see this as a wrong move by Apple. One could argue that this move will only benefit unfair competition guidelines, and Apple is setting a dangerous precedent by doing so.
This new app by Samsung is created specifically for mobile devices that are not Samsung-branded. Under the hood, it offers virtually the same functionality as the regular Samsung Pay app, as consumers can complete transactions with their smartphone. In doing so, the technology company becomes one of the first to make their payment system accessible to other ecosystems.
For now, it remains unclear why this decision was made. Getting an application published on the Apple App Store is very straightforward, yet there is no clear mention of why Samsung Pay Mini would be banned. Considering how Apple has been letting several malicious Bitcoin wallet apps through, it appears that they are maintaining double standards.
To make things even stranger, Samsung has decided not to fight this decision. Instead, they will continue to develop the Pay Mini app, but only for the Android ecosystem. Considering that this is still the largest smartphone market, the decision can easily be justified. Recent statistics indicate that Android is present on 87.5% of all smartphones in circulation right now.
It also appears that this decision is only affecting the South Korean market right now, as the news was initially reported by South Korean sources. Samsung Pay Mini and Apple Pay would be launching around the same time in the Country, yet it appears that Apple has launched their pre-emptive strike already. It is unclear if this decision will also affect other countries or just this region.
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