LG’s GPay To Join The Mobile Payments Race?

The mobile payments space is getting crowded with the big tech players, and it appears it may soon get a little more crowded.

And, interestingly enough, from an unlikely player.

According to a filing with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office, LG has filed a patent for its mobile payments service, which is named in the application as GPay. That name is specifically listed in categories that relate to smartphones, smartwatches, mobile devices and data transmission. LG is reportedly working with financial services in South Korea to bring this service to market.

GPay has already gained plenty of press, but LG has yet to release a statement on the possible mobile payments service. This move from LG comes not long after Google rolled out Android Pay and Samsung rolled out its own flagship mobile payments app, Samsung Pay.

What’s interesting about LG’s potential debut into the mobile “Pay Players” space is the fact that mobile payments haven’t quite taken off yet in terms of consumer adoption — or even widespread merchant acceptance. But that hasn’t stopped startups and larger companies like LG from wanting to join the race, it seems.

But as more players join the mobile payments industry, perhaps that will motivate consumers to think more about ditching their wallets for phones and motivating merchants to accept contactless payments. Only time will tell, particularly as those vying for a piece of the mobile payments pie push out their pitches for mobile payments use cases.

To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.