Samsung recently made its Samsung Wallet application available via the Google Play Store. It was previously only available via Samsung’s own app store.
The app, which is compatible with the Galaxy S3, S4, Note I, and Note II, lets users store membership cards, boarding passes, tickets, and other content/associations on their smartphone. The app relies on bar codes rather than NFC for making purchases. Samsung is skipping NFC for now because retailers prefer the bar codes (less infrastructure to deploy). The app has support from Walgreens, Belly, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, and Lufthansa.
Samsung Wallet competes directly with Google Wallet, which is available to more Android-based phones, and Isis, which is launching later this year with wide support from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
