LG may be next to offer mobile payments platform

LG may soon enter the payment solution fray.

In a filing with the USPTO LG is seeking a trademark for G Pay, a new listed under the smartwatches and mobile devices category, VentureBeat reported.

While the filing does not give much detail, according to commentators, the conclusion that LG planned to follow Samsung, Apple and Google into the mobile payments sector was not hard to reach.

The latest tech space race started with the launch of Apple Pay in October last year, after failed attempts from Google to kickstart the new NFC-based arena.

Google had re-entered the fray with a more attractive Android Pay offering, even as Samsung's solution had the potential to be the most ubiquitous due to the inclusion of LoopPay, which turned regular swipe-card machines into contactless readers.

According to commentators, while LG could easily take advantage of Android Pay through its smartphones and Android Wear watches, the Korean company appeared to be keen on taking slice of the market for itself.

If LG were to introduce its own mobile payments platform, it would follow its more successful regional rival Samsung, Digital Trends reported.

Samsung recently launched Samsung Pay, a new intuitive payments service that worked with any card reader, regardless of whether it supported contactless cards or NFC-based mobile payments.

LG is said to be working with financial services in South Korea to enhance G Pay.

It might use NFC to connect the cash register to the mobile or wearable, adding to the support for contactless payment in the US and Europe.

According to commentators, this would make it easier for LG to gain support, since it could latch onto the same retailers whose payment terminals worked with Google's Android Pay and Apple Pay.

G Pay had been said to be under testing for a few months now. LG had also run small tests in South Korea on the Watch Urbane and LG G4 in cooperation with local prepaid brand Cashbee.

The fingerprint sensor on the LG V10 would support both payment services, sources said, Digital Trends reported. LG was also expected to add a fingerprint sensor on the LG G5, its next flagship, which usually launched in the first half of the year.