Tag: isis

A number of software providers and payment terminal manufacturers have just agreed to integration.

According to an announcement from Isis, a number of new terminal manufacturers and software providers have now committed to integrate the Isis SmartTap mobile payments option into their own products.

This is considerable news as Isis has also recently revealed that it intends to launch nationwide this year.

The SmartTap protocol is only the latest of the proprietary mobile payments software specifications being used by this smartphone wallet service for leveraging NFC technology. These deployments are expected to cover a broad range of different offerings at the point of sale, according to Isis. This includes everything from unattended solutions such as vending, to point of sale terminals with high end integration.

Isis mobile payments users will be able to pay at a terminal or NFC reader that is supported.

When the SmartTap protocol is supported by a payment terminal or an NFC reader, it makes it possible for users of the Isis mobile payments wallet service to be able to pay for their purchases, redeem offers, and present loyalty cards within a single transaction, using a smartphone.

According to the Isis chief sales officer, Jim Stapleton, in a news release that was recently issued, “NFC is the international standard for mobile payments.” Stapleton added that “The proliferation of SmartTap capabilities at the point of sale takes mobile payments one step further, providing rich commerce features that offer an effortless consumer experience and drive engagement and loyalty in a way previously not possible.”

Providers that support the capabilities of SmartTap are making it possible to enable mobile payments and commerce in a broad spectrum of different environments, such as at gas pumps, public transit systems, vending machines, taxi cabs, supermarkets, retail stores, and restaurants.

Among the latest partners that are integrating the mobile payments capabilities of SmartTap into their product lines are On Track Innovations Global, Uniform Industrial Corp, PAX Technology, ID TECH, and XAC Automation corp. Those that have already integrated the capabilities into their point of sale offerings include VeriFone, Gilbarco Veeder-Root, Equinox Payments, Ingenico, and Wayne, A GE Energy Business.

Google Wallet might be a bust, but according to recent Gartner research, mobile payments are growing dramatically, with transaction values predicted to hit the $235.4 billion mark in 2013. The question is, what do these seemingly synergistic, yet opposing trends, say about the emerging cashless society? And how can merchants navigate the mobile payments landscape?

With all the hype around wallets, you’d expect that lots of people are using them. Not so much. They will account for only 2 percent of total mobile transaction values in 2013 according to Gartner. In spite of all the hype, NFC services like Google Wallet and Isis aren’t catching on with consumers.

The big driver of growth is plain old mobile money transfers, which are projected to make up about 71 percent of total transaction values in 2013.

For those of us who operate in the global payments ecosystem, these statistics are no surprise.  In many regions outside of North America, mobile phones are the single most ubiquitous computing device, and they are used in a wide variety of ways for commerce and payments. In Africa, two-thirds of the Kenyan population filters $13 billion – more than a quarter of the East African country’s gross domestic product – through M-Pesa, which is the world’s leading mobile money network. Many of those transactions are money transfers or country-specific payment approaches.

The mobile payments market is so fluid, complex, and nascent; it’s very difficult for merchants to predict consumer adoption of any given approach.  At the same time, merchants can’t afford to ignore the mobile payments market — it’s simply too large, with huge potential for commerce growth.

Confronted with complexity, many online merchants have limited their payment options to cards and PayPal, bypassing incremental mobile sales using other payment methods. This is a mistake. The most successful ecommerce merchants are both mobile and global. Starbucks is a great example of a global brand that has cracked the code on engaging consumers by integrating mobile payments tightly with the in-store experience and providing loyalty incentives that delight consumers.

For merchants who don’t have the resources of a Starbucks or Amazon, payment processing platforms can simplify the complexity by handling a wide variety of payments worldwide while integrating mobile and online commerce. Instead of placing their bets on a handful of payment methods, merchants can tap into dozens of payment methods, languages and cultural approaches that look quite different depending on whether the consumer lives in Abu Dhabi or Los Angeles.

Merchants can no longer choose between online and mobile payments – they need both to stay competitive.  As mobile phones turn into payment devices, ecommerce will change dramatically, reaching consumers everywhere on a global scale.

Ralph Dangelmeier is CEO of BlueSnap, a global payment service provider powering the checkout process for eCommerce merchants worldwide, and fueling growth for online businesses serving digital, physical and mobile markets. BlueSnap has reinvented the checkout experience by combining the power of four key components: Seamless integration into the storefront, global payment processing, award winning smart subscriptions, and dynamic marketing tools for up-sell at checkout.