You've got that backwards, samsung went there first.
Well, Samsung went somewhere first, nobody wanted to follow them there, and it wasn't until Apple showed the right way did Samsung start heading in the correct direction. Except that Samsung is still insisting on blazing a trail, and is veering off toward a cliff (proximity magnet? really?) anyway.
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Just because you feel Google didn't get anywhere with Google Wallet doesn't make it so. You've been able to use it in stores that accept NFC payments for years. You've been able to use Google Wallet to make purchases online for years. You've also been able to get a physical card hooked in to your Google Wallet account for years.
Been able, yes.
But what's the usage rates? Google missed SOMETHING important with Wallet because, relatively speaking, nobody uses it.