Samsung is bringing Apple Watch features to future smartwatches

Critics can accuse Apple of following instead of leading with the arrival of NFC support in its latest hardware -set up to start facilitating mobile Apple Pay payments- all they want, but there’s at least one component of that project where Apple’s breaking new ground, making those NFC-based payments happen with a smartwatch. Sure, we’ve seen NFC-equipped smartwatches before, but not any so intimately tied to a payment system. But while the Apple Watch may be first, it won’t be the last, and we get word today that Samsung is developing a payment-equipped smartwatch of its own. An unidentified Samsung exec is quoted as saying that the company is preparing a watch that will marry fingerprint authentication with mobile payments to deliver a secure, eminently portable payment solution. This wearable could be ready for launch as soon as MWC 2015 in February, hot on the tail of Apple’s own watch making its retail debut.