First Data Corp. has announced the introduction of the First Data FD50 - calling it 'an affordable point-of-sale terminal featuring solid design and construction, easy operation and state-of-the-art security.'   » Continue Reading

At this week's ETA meeting in Las Vegas, VeriFone has introduced PAYware PC - calling it 'the next generation of its popular PCCharge payment processing solution for standalone or integrated environments. PAYware PC provides end-to-end payment processing and customer management capabilities for small-to-medium-sized merchants of all types and a simple, yet highly-secure integration platform for developers.'   » Continue Reading

SCM Microsystems has announced the SCL3710 NFC reader, a USB dongle which enables a variety of contactless applications using mobile electronic devices. 'The reader can be used to enable contactless transactions for merchants. When inserted into a PC or notebook that is connected to a system such as a Point of Sale (PoS) terminal, vending machine, access terminal or parking meter payment device, the SCL3710 dongle communicates contactlessly with consumers’ NFC-enabled devices to support contactless transactions.'   » Continue Reading

The IHL Group has released a new study finding that 'the PC-based electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) market in Europe/Middle East/Africa experienced a 4 percent shipment increase in 2007 and continues to show strong growth potential in 2008. Taking advantage of normal cyclical upgrades in Western Europe and enjoying strong oil revenues in Russia and the Middle East, the region is poised to remain strong even while shipments slow in North America.'   » Continue Reading

Early Saturday morning Ingenico announced that it had sent a letter to the Board of Directors of Hypercom Corporation "offering to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Hypercom for $6.25 per share in cash."   » Continue Reading

NCR in partnership with ViVOtech has announced a suite of contactless payment terminals for the point of sale (POS) that "enable mobile and contactless payment at a variety of customer touch points, including retail checkout, restaurant drive-thru and the diner’s table."   » Continue Reading

Hypercom has announced that "It has entered into exclusive negotiations with Thales SA, a leading international electronics and systems group serving defense, aerospace and security markets worldwide, to acquire the e-Transactions business line of Thales." The company also announced that it has obtained a $60 million financing commitment from Francisco Partners and that Philippe Tartavull has been named Chief Executive Officer and President of Hypercom Corporation.   » Continue Reading

Intuit has announced the release of the latest version of QuickBooks Point of Sale retail management software that replaces the traditional cash register and gives small retailers features that help them provide great customer service and improve inventory management.   » Continue Reading

Florence Fabricant writes for the New York Times Dining section about portable POS terminals - they've been used heavily in Europe for the last 10 years and are now beginning to be seen in restaurants here in the US. Your card never leaves your hand.

VeriFone has announced that its annual Retail Payments Conference will be held October 17-19 at the Don Cesar Resort in St. Pete Beach, FL. "The Retail Payments Conference is the only event that focuses on payment security, payment standards and emerging payment trends from a retailer and a retail systems integration perspective."   » Continue Reading

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "The Global and US POS Market: Forecasts and Futures" that reviews global and regional POS terminal shipments and approximate revenues and looks at the future role of POS terminals in the payment ecosystem.   » Continue Reading

Taking on an expanded role, the PCI Security Standards Council has announced that it has also assumed responsibility for the PIN Entry Device (PED) Security Requirements that were previously administered under the auspices of JCB, MasterCard International and Visa International.   » Continue Reading

The Smart Card Alliance Contactless Payments Council has announced new resources for merchants wanting to know more about accepting contactless payments. A new white paper titled "Accepting Contactless Payments: A Merchant Guide" (PDF) and a presentation titled "Contactless Payment Deployment: Merchant Implementation Guide" (PDF) are available free of charge online.   » Continue Reading

Greg Bluestein writes for the Associated Press about new interest among fine dining restaurants in small point-of-sale terminals that can be brought to the table - enabling diners to complete their payment, add on a tip, and be done without handing their payment to a waiter. Restaurants are rapidly becoming the last places that consumers allow their cards to leave their sight - and have proven to be the greatest sources of mag stripe skimming.

The Smart Card Alliance has published a white paper (PDF) and accompanying presentation (PDF) on merchant implementation of contactless payments. "This guide assists any merchant who is considering deployment of contactless payments. Merchants can use the information in this guide to decide whether contactless payment is right for them and to plan for, implement, and roll out contactless payments successfully."

Global Industry Analysts, Inc. has published a new report that projects that the world EFTPOS terminal market will grow to 10,769,000 units by 2010.   » Continue Reading

Welcome Real-Time's Aneace Haddad blogs about some new study results that show the benefits to merchants from having the technology to deliver targeted messages and promotions to their customers on POS receipts.

In an article titled 'Restaurants Test Table Card Readers", Greg Bluestein writes for the Associated Press about pay at the table POS systems - very popular in a number of markets outside the US but slow to catch on here. Terminal suppliers now see an opportunity - increased concern about mag stripe card skimming - and feel that the time may be right for pay at the table to take off.

Shift4 Corporation has announced new technology for current and legacy point-of-sale (POS) systems that, when used with Shift4's $$$ ON THE NET(r) gateway, removes all useable personal credit card data at the POS terminal, in back-office data storage and during all data transport.   » Continue Reading

The law firm of Perkins Coie reports on the more than 100 class action lawsuits that have been filed in federal court since December 2006 against a broad spectrum of retailers alleging violations of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act ("FACTA") of 2003 (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.). "The suits allege these companies "willfully" violated FACTA by generating electronic customer credit or debit card receipts containing prohibited information, and seek awards of what some courts have described as "annihilating" statutory damages in the $100 million to $1 billion range, plus punitive damages and attorneys’ fees."

Joseph Pereira reports for the Wall St. Journal on how merchants can be vulnerable to fraudsters attaching mag stripe skimming devices to the merchant's own point of sale systems or, amazingly, simply replacing a merchant's POS terminal with one modified by the fraudster to capture card mag stripe and PIN data - as illustrated by Stop & Shop's recent experience. Pereira cites a recent Gartner study that concluded that eighty percent of card data breaches were due to attacks on POS devices.

Glenbrook's Allen Weinberg will be holding an afternoon workshop titled "Point Of Sale Impact: Preparing for the Merchant and Online Payments Revolution" at the upcoming CardTech/SecureTech conference in San Francisco.   » Continue Reading

Chockstone has announced Receipt and Respond, an advertising network linking its restaurant and retail clients with national and local advertisers. According to Chockstone, the new advertising network "delivers point of purchase advertisements and promotional offers directly on consumer receipts. Specific ads are delivered based on actual transaction parameters, including retailer, store location, consumer spending pattern, type of transaction (e.g. loyalty, credit card), day of week, time of day, and items purchased."   » Continue Reading

StoreNext Retail Technologies and Pay By Touch have announced an agreement under which the two companies will market and distribute Pay By Touch’s biometric authentication and payment service to independent grocers. The companies says that their joint solution "minimizes grocers’ transaction costs while allowing shoppers to pay for purchases with the simple touch of a finger."   » Continue Reading

First Data Corp., Microsoft and HP have announced a small business point of sale solution called First Data POS Value Exchange that "replaces a cash register and traditional point of sale terminal with a computer-based system that delivers a complete store management solution with greater information security, speed of transactions and more flexible payment options for customers."   » Continue Reading

Frost & Sullivan has published its latest forecast of World EFT POS Terminals Markets reporting that the total market accrued revenues of $1.3 billion in 2005 and estimates it will reach $2 billion in 2011.   » Continue Reading

Dave Birch blogs about a "medium term vision for retail payments." In Dave's vision, "the retail POS shrinks to a button on the shop counter, whereas all the "smarts" migrate into the mobile." We can speculate about just what that "medium term" timeframe for Dave's vision actually is - and what the downstream implications might be for the POS equipment vendors.

Global Payments has announced the introduction of a Mobile POS Solution using the WAY Systems Mobile Transaction MTT 1556 Credit/Debit terminal. The company says the product "combines the security and performance of a traditional POS terminal with the ease of using a mobile phone."   » Continue Reading

The Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Hungry For Adoption: Pay At Table Viewpoint and Wireless Point-Of-Sale Update" examining the market opportunity in the US for handheld wireless point of sale solutions (wPOS).   » Continue Reading

ABI Research has published a new research study titled "RFID Contactless Payments" that estimates industry spending on contactless payments hardware and software will reach $870 million by 2011, up from just $260 million in 2006 - a compound annual growth rate of 27%.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Worldwide and VeriFone have announced what they say is "the first U.S. acceptance of MasterCard PayPass™ “Tap & Go” contactless payments in taxicabs, making life easier for busy consumers in one of the country’s largest, fastest-paced cities. The contactless acceptance is expected to roll out to all taxis licensed by the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA)."   » Continue Reading

VeriFone Holdings has announced an external contactless card acceptance device, the QX100, offering "a cost-effective migration path for merchants to adopt the increasingly popular "tap and pay" payment technology now being offered by major banks."   » Continue Reading

Jack in the Box has announced the installation of new contactless payment card readers at all company restaurants will be completed by Dec. 31 - to "offer guests an easier, quicker way to pay. Guests will be able to pay simply by holding their cards in front of a reader at the front counter or drive-thru window. No swipe required." Jack in the Box partnered with American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa for the rollout.   » Continue Reading

Trintech has announced that its payment systems business is to be acquired by VeriFone Holdings in an all-cash transaction valued at $12.1 million. According to Trintech, "the acquisition includes a range of payment systems that will support and extend VeriFone's existing offerings for merchants and financial institutions. VeriFone will take over distribution of those products and will provide existing customers with service and support."   » Continue Reading

Jack Davis reports for the San Jose Mercury News that GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm and VeriFone's largest shareholder has been selling portions of its interest in the point-of-sale equipment supplier. VeriFone's chief executive, Douglas Bergeron, has also been a seller.

Acies Corporation has announced the launch of a month-long national marketing campaign to promote widespread adoption of the latest innovation and convenience in payment processing - contactless transaction technology. During the month of June, Acies is offering retailers the opportunity to participate in a special promotional initiative where retailers will receive free placement of state-of-the-art point of sale equipment, including a state-of-the-art ViVOtech 4000 contactless reader.   » Continue Reading

Transaction Network Services has announced the availability of FusionPoint Express, providing a way for legacy dial and serial point-of-sale (POS) devices to be upgraded to internet-protocol (IP) networks to major card processors, reducing the cost, complexity and duration of POS communications.   » Continue Reading

NCR and Novell have announced a global agreement to offer Novell Linux Point of Service on NCR RealPOS retail point-of-sale (POS) terminals make it easier for retailers to deploy Linux-based POS solutions.   » Continue Reading

VeriFone Holdings and Lipman Electronic Engineering have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for VeriFone to acquire Lipman, the Rosh Haayin, Israel-based provider of electronic payment systems. Following the acquisition, VeriFone will become the largest global provider of electronic payment solutions and services.   » Continue Reading

Bob Sulllivan reports for MSNBC.com that "U.S. retailers are being warned that software they use at checkout counters may store too much customer information — including customer debit card PIN numbers that are supposed to be immediately erased or encrypted."

Evan Schuman writes for eWeek about Fujitsu Transaction Solutions' reactions to a security advisory issued by Visa regarding its POS software. According to Schuman, a Fujitsu executive said that the problem was not with the core POS software but with a "tracer utility" intended to support testing. TechWeb also covers the story.

Trintech Group has announced a partnership with Dresser Wayne to supply the fuel retail market with a range of payment technology products that support the latest EMV smart card and PCI terminal security standards.   » Continue Reading

Robin Sidel reports in this morning's Wall St. Journal on a recent alert sent by Visa USA to merchant acquirers that some third-party POS software may be storing certain card or PIN information inappropriately.

Commerciant has announced the Mobilescape 5000, a wireless handheld device that accepts and processes both checks and credit cards in a single, integrated device. The device enables mobile workers such as residential service providers, delivery service personnel, and merchants on the go can accept checks and credit cards that are processed immediately.   » Continue Reading

Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd. has announced that it has received a contract to supply $7 million of customized POS terminals and pin pads to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).   » Continue Reading

India's Business Standard reports on the rapid growth now underway in the number of point of sale terminals in India.

AllAfrica.com reports on iVeri Payment Technology, a South African company that delivers mobile point of sale acceptance devices in African countries.   » Continue Reading

Earthlink has announced that it is acquiring New Edge Networks for approximately $144 million, consisting of 2.6 million shares of EarthLink common stock and $114.3 million in cash, including cash to be used to satisfy certain liabilities. New Edge Networks has recently announced a series of interconnection arrangements with major payment processors.   » Continue Reading

New Edge Networks has announced that it has established a direct network connection to American Express, enabling merchants to process transactions directly with the card network.   » Continue Reading

Pay By Touch and NCR Corporation have announced an alliance to offer merchants around the world a single point of contact for supporting their entire merchant and consumer biometric needs.   » Continue Reading

New Edge Networks has announced that it has established high-speed direct network connections with First Data Corp. that will allow New Edge Network merchants to use First Data for processing bankcard transactions faster and at no added cost.   » Continue Reading

Mercator Advisory Group has announced the second report in a two-part series examining the current state of the vPOS market and the potential for growth in the point of sale space.   » Continue Reading

Patricia Sabatini reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the deployment of contactless payment cards.  Now accepted at about 22,000 merchant locations nationwide, Sabatini reports that "Visa estimates that number will zoom next year by tenfold, to 220,000 locations."

Jennifer Kingson reports for the New York Times on the increasing use of wireless point of sale acceptance devices by merchants now that wireless coverage is nearly everywhere with POS devices working with wireless networks in combination to be much more reliable.

Investor's Business Daily profiles VeriFone in an article in Monday's edition titled "Supplier Of Electronic Payment Gear Cashes In On Cashless Trend".

Matt Marshall reports for the San Jose Mercury News this morning on an expected announcement today by Pay By Touch Solutions regarding new financing.  Marshall reports in his article that the company will announce $130 million in new financing -- $55 million from convertible notes and $75 million in loans.

VeriFone announced this afternoon that it is planning to sell 10 to 12 millions shares of common stock to the public in a secondary offering. VeriFone Holdings, Inc. completed its initial public offering in late April 2005.

Business News Americas reports that an electronic payments infrastructure fund sponsored by fifteen of Mexico's banks plan to spent US$150 MM to buy and install 475,000 new credit-debit card POS terminals over the next five years.

"We will install the terminals in businesses at no cost," said Marcos Martínez, chairman of Mexico's banking association ABM which was responsible for setting up the fund. The fund, called FIMPE, aims to triple the number of card terminals currently in use as banks cash in on a boom in credit card lending.

Michele Chandler reports for the San Jose Mercury News on a new partnership between Pay By Touch and VeriFone.

Pay By Touch is negotiating to bring its technology to a Bay Area grocer sometime later this year, said John Morris, the company's president and chief operating officer. He said a deal could be formalized within the next two months with a food chain he declined to name. Pay By Touch is also in discussions with fast food restaurants, discount stores and convenience chains.

Arik Hesseldahl reports for Forbes.com on Pay By Touch's new president and COO John Morris and its current deployment of its fingerprint-based payment system with Piggly Wiggly.

Grocers, he says, sweat over seconds and track the average time it takes to get a customer through the check-out line. The faster the better. A transaction using a paper check takes on average about 64 seconds; credit card transactions take 40 to 45 seconds; debit cards about 35; and cash about 29, which includes the "fumble factor"--allowing the clerk to count out change. Once a consumer is enrolled with the Pay By Touch system, they can pay in as little as 14 seconds by holding their finger up to a scanner and entering a number--usually their home phone number, to add a little extra layer of authentication.

Ellen McCarthy reports for the Washington Post on the use of biometric fingerprint identification for payment at the point of sale and some concerns among privacy rights advocates. The vendors of the technology, BioPay and Pay By Touch, cite speed as one of the primary benefits from using fingerprint biometrics.   » Continue Reading

On Track Innovations (OTI) has announced a partnership with Ingenico North America to provide secure contactless solutions for the payment and identification markets.   » Continue Reading

Bob Keefe of Cox News Service writes about RFID-equipped proximity payment cards.

Bruce Cundiff, an analyst at technology research company Jupiter Research, doesn't give the new contactless cards a much better chance than those chip-embedded cards in the United States.

The biggest problem, Cundiff said, is convincing merchants to shell out millions to add new payment terminals to their stores. So far, he said, the card companies have typically helped pay for new equipment at partner merchants. "It's just going to take a lot of money, and it's not going to come from the merchants, because they don't really need this," Cundiff said.

VeriFone completed its initial public offering this morning. Its new stock symbol is PAY. The IPO was priced at $10 per share, down from its expected pricing range of $12 to $14 per share. VeriFone's latest SEC S-1/A filing is available online.

MarketWatch publishes Renaissance Capital's report on the upcoming initial public offering of VeriFone.

David Bank reports for the Wall St. Journal on a lawsuit filed by BJ's Wholesale Club against IBM seeking compensation for losses following a compromise of credit card information.

The sensitive information encoded in the magnetic stripe on credit cards "was out there more than we thought," says John Shaughnessy, senior vice president for risk management at Visa USA. These secret codes are "jewels" for thieves, Mr. Shaughnessy says. "The fact that it's stored anywhere is troublesome."

Moneris Solutions has announced a new end-to-end wireless payment processing solution for merchants.   » Continue Reading

Peppercoin and Ingenico have announced a partnership to offer Peppercoin's Small Transaction Suite to merchants.   » Continue Reading

Hypercom announced today that Chris Alexander has retired from his positions as chairman, president and CEO. He will remain a member of the board of directors and act as a Special Assistant to the Board and the new CEO. William Keiper, a member of the company's board, has been named Interim President and CEO.

The Lincoln (NC) Tribune reports that Lowes Food will begin deploying BioPay's biometrics payment solution later this spring.   » Continue Reading

American Express has announced that Ritz Camera and Sheetz have signed on as the newest merchant partners in its ExpressPay contractless payments program.   » Continue Reading

Authorize.net has announced the completion of its beta release of its new Virtual Point of Sale product. VPOS is designed to enable retail merchants using a PC equipped with a mag stripe reader to utilize the Authorize.net payment gateway.   » Continue Reading

POSDATA has announced that it has been certified by Hypercom as an authorized repair service facility.

"We have awarded this designation to POSDATA because of their technical proficiencies, processes and systems. Adding POSDATA to our network of repair facilities will give merchants faster and more streamlined servicing and repair of Hypercom's highly popular and in-demand terminals,” said O.B. Rawls IV, president, Hypercom North America.

MasterCard and Visa have announced that they have reached an agreement to share a common communications protocol and associated testing requirements for radio frequency-based contactless payments at the point of sale.   » Continue Reading

Hypercom has announced the IN-tact 1201, a gateway device that allows existing dial point of sale terminals to be used over IP-based networks.   » Continue Reading

Susan Kuchinskas reports for Internetnews.com on Visa USA's announcement of Visa Contactless and the implications for RFID-based consumer payments.

"Credit card issuers will be the initial dominant wave of providing electronic credit cards for digital commerce," said Jorge Fernandes, chairman of ViVOtech. "In a second wave, a lot of retailers will leverage this technology to create a closer relationship with consumers. Digital credit cards will let consumes identify themselves to merchants and let merchants communicate with them."

Slashdot also picks up a discussion about Visa's announcement.

Biometric Access Company has announced that a new development alliance with VeriFone to certify its biometric identity verification solutions with VeriFone's electronic payment solutions for the multi-lane retail industry.   » Continue Reading

Nokia has announced a new Near Field Communications (NFC) shell for the Nokia 3220 phone that will enable consumers to conduct local purchase transactions.

"Visa is always looking for exciting, first-rate innovations that advance the field of contactless payment and we are pleased to join forces with Nokia in this pioneering effort," said Jim Lee, senior vice president, Product Technology and Standards, Visa International. "The development of the Nokia NFC shell serves as a natural extension of Visa's contactless card and phone programs around the world. Moreover, it aligns well with Visa's commitment to enabling payments anywhere, anytime, through any device."

"We are pleased that Nokia is developing technology that will support MasterCard(R) PayPass contactless payment technology in a mobile handset. This is a natural extension to the successful PayPass market trial that we carried out together in Dallas, Texas in 2003. MasterCard's research has consistently shown that consumers are interested in using their mobile phones for making convenient payments in the future," said Richard Fletcher, senior vice president, Mobile and Wireless Centre of Excellence, MasterCard International.

Hypercom announced yesterday that it has to restate its 2004 financial results as a result of incorrectly accounting for certain equipment leases by the company's UK subsidiary.

The Company has also determined that the internal control deficiency that gave rise to this restatement represents a material weakness, as defined by the PCAOB's Auditing Standard No. 2.

Consequently, management will be unable to conclude that the Company's internal controls over financial reporting are effective as of December 31, 2004, and the Company's independent auditors, Ernst & Young LLP, are expected to issue an adverse opinion with respect to the Company's internal controls over financial reporting.

Hypercom's stock closed down over 18% yesterday on the news.

LakeWest Group has released the results of its sixth annual Point-of-Sale Benchmarking Survey of top 100 specialty retailers.

This year respondents identified their top priorities as increased customer flow-through, better customer information gathering, hardware replacement, improved store labor management, and seamless channel integration.

"Customer service continues to be the key priority for retailers as they focus on gaining a better understanding of their customer, improving inventory management, and more effectively managing store personnel," said Robert Antall, CEO of LakeWest Group. "As retailers look to differentiate their offering, they are addressing areas such as channel integration, customer purchasing patterns across channels, and providing special order options to the customer."

Verifone Holdings has filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC. According to the financials included in the S-1, the company reported revenues of about $390 million for the year ending October 2004 and $0.6 million in net income.

The November issue of the Smart Card Talk newsletter from the Smart Card Alliance has an article for merchants on implementing contactless payment.   » Continue Reading

VeriFone has announced that it is teaming with McAfee to jointly develop the industry's first virus protection solution addressing point-of-sale payment terminals.   » Continue Reading

VeriFone, Mosaic Software and ID Data have announced LaunchPAD, an alliance to deliver pre-authorized debit (PAD) transactions.   » Continue Reading