Samsung Wallet lifts Qatar World Cup

Qatar
Digital payments in Doha (pictured) have hit the net as the Samsung Wallet launches in time for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Could ease discrete payments

Samsung Wallet has gone live in Qatar and South Africa, reports specialist publication NFCW. This could be great news for anyone attending or playing in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 because it has a range of functions for making discrete payments, protecting details of your private life and making unexpected hotel checkouts and rapid plane departures. It will also enable users to store and use their digital payment, loyalty, membership and identity cards, digital keys, boarding passes and other credentials on their compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

The South Korea-based tech giant created the app by integrating Samsung Pay with the Samsung Pass and SmartThings platforms. It said that users in Qatar with Galaxy devices running Android 9 Pie or later can migrate to Samsung Wallet directly from Samsung Pay or Samsung Pass or by visiting the online Galaxy Store.

Important documentation, such as proof of Covid-19 vaccination status, can also be securely stored in Samsung Wallet. In the entertainment areas of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar corporate box types can check their digital asset portfolio by monitoring the value of their cryptocurrencies across various exchanges in one place. Users can also “easily add digital home keys” and digital car keys for selected BMW, Genesis and Hyundai models “with additional automaker partnerships expected”.

Samsung Wallet will support digital boarding passes for those traveling to the tournament by Korean Air. If you are detained at the tournament Samsung Wallet is protected by defence-grade security platform Samsung Knox, Samsung claims. Protections include fingerprint recognition and encryption to safeguard users’ sensitive data, so only the device owners can access their important information. “Along with Samsung Knox, certain key sensitive items in Samsung Wallet are stored in an isolated environment, the embedded Secure Element, which also helps protect against digital and physical hacking,” said Samsung.

Samsung has launched the multipurpose digital wallet app in the two countries with support for credit, debit and prepaid cards issued by banks including Commercial Bank of Qatar, Dukhan BankQatar Islamic BankQatar International Islamic Bank and QNB in Qatar and by AbsaCapitecDiscovery BankFirst National BankNedbank and Standard Bank in South Africa.

For fans travelling from Europe, Samsung Wallet also went live in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland last month with support for cards issued by SEB in Denmark and by Swedbank, SEB, Nordea, DanskeBank, Handelsbanken, Eurocard, ICA Banken, SAS, Ecster, Skandia, Länsförsäkringar, Volvofinans, First Card SVEA, Klarna, Re:member, Edenred, Circle K, Coop and Marginalen Bank in Sweden.