When it comes to iPhones as handheld payment devices, there's a new player in town.
In June, Hypercom (already a major player in the electronic payment terminal field) is set to release Smart Payments Mobile, a hardware/software solution that wraps an iPhone in a custom jacket that houses a magnetic card reader (as opposed to the Square dongle solution). The reader will encrypt and transmit the card info to Hypercom's servers, which then connect to the card owner's bank to complete the transaction. No credit card info will be retained by the iPhone.
Hypercom sees this as a cost-effective alternative to traditional payment terminals for small- to mid-sized companies. Another version of the reader will have a barcode scanner for inventory tracking.
Pricing for Smart Payments Mobile will be determined by Hypercom's business partners.
[Via the Phoenix Business Journal]
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Business Owners often ask if iphones are safe as payment processing units. If this device does directly connect to hypercom with encrypted signals, for processing and iphone unit retains non of card data, then this looks like a promising start down that road.