Samsung, Visa and Fiserv unit First Data have teamed up to make the mPOS dongle a thing of the past, replacing it with a software-based system that lets merchants accept contactless payments of any amount on their handsets without the need for any additional hardware.
The SoftPOS system uses the NFC functionality in a merchant's smartphone or tablet to let them accept payments from contactless cards as well as NFC-enabled handsets and wearables.
Visa is bringing its contactless capability, while Fiserv offers settlement of transactions via a mobile app and Samsung provides security protocols in both hardware and software, as well as the mobile devices.
SoftPOS is being showcased at the IFA tech fair in Berlin before a pilot begins in Poland later this year ahead of a wider Emea and Apac rollout.
"SoftPOS, has been designed to meet the current and future needs of consumers and entrepreneurs and will change the way people make daily payments, facilitating the convenient, quick, and secure processing of contactless transactions,” says John Gibbons, head, Emea, Fiserv.