Dive Brief:

• Samsung Pay is now available for phones running on the Verizon network, the leading wireless carrier in the United States. 
• Verizon held its approval of Samsung’s mobile wallet until late last month, with only “economics” a factor in the delay. 
• Communicating with NFC and magnetic stripe terminals, Samsung Pay is compatible with more card readers than competing products. 

Dive Insight:

Samsung had struggled to get the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. to accept the system, apparently due to differences over terms; Samsung Pay is now enabled on all major U.S. networks including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.

While it’s too early to tell how many people are using Samsung Pay, it is a formidable competitor for Android Pay and Apple Pay. Like those systems, the mobile wallet can be used with near-field communication (NFC) terminals, but it also works older magnetic-stripe terminals.

Samsung is also the nation’s second-largest handset supplier after Apple, according to comScore, having manufactured 28.1% of smartphones in use. While both mobile wallets run on late-model phones, nearly every smartphone user in the U.S. will soon have access to a wireless payment system if they want one.