NAB wants Android handsets to replace card payment terminals
Could the days of the humble counter-top payment terminal soon be numbered?
That’s the question more than a few retailers are likely to be asking after the National Australia Bank (NAB) and veteran point of sale provider (PoS) Quest Payment Systems revealed a new trial in conjunction with Visa to turn Android handsets into mobile payment terminals.
It’s a sign that payments hardware manufacturers – think Hypercom and Ingenico – are now increasingly looking to bypass manufacturing dedicated payment products if favour of heading straight to the secure software layer, especially now that many handsets are equipped with to read NFC taps.
Under the deal with NAB, Quest – which is Australian owned and headquartered in Melbourne – will get to put its tap payments acceptance software onto Android handsets that then port back to NAB’s merchant acquiring services.
(Quest says solution will initially be available on Android devices only “as Apple do not make the required contactless interface available to developers” though it will support Apple devices through the addition of a Bluetooth payment terminal.)
While retail acquiring has long been one of the most challenged segments of the payments market, especially as transactions head online, the movement of payments to phones has created an opportunity for traditional players in the smartcard space to lose their hardware overheads.
“Since the introduction of tap-and-go payments, Australians are carrying less and less cash which can impact sales and growth for small businesses,” NAB Executive General Manager, Transaction Banking, Andy Kerr said.
“Currently, there are limited options for merchants such as market stall vendors, boutique retailers, sole traders and start-ups to accept payments other than cash.”
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