Garmin adds FitPay to its smartwatch
Garmin International’s newest smartwatch now supports contactless payments through a partnership with Fit Pay Inc.
Olathe, Kan.-based GPS device-maker Garmin has licensed the FitPay white-label contactless payments service for Garmin Pay, available with its Vivoactive 3 smartwatch to support payments at Near Field Communication-enabled terminals, Garmin said in a Friday press release.
Bloomberg NewsUsers may enable NFC payments by downloading the Garmin Connect Mobile app for Android or iOS and adding any credit or debit card through an integration that uses Embedded Secure Element technology minus the need for connection to a host device, according to the release.
“Bringing a powerful feature like Garmin Pay to market requires building an entire ecosystem to enable it,” said Michael Orlando, president of San Francisco-based Fit Pay, in the release.
Garmin’s Vivoactive is available for about $300, roughly the same cost as rival Fitbit’s Ionic smartwatch, which supports NFC payments via its own Fitbit Pay technology.