BBPOS Says It's Time To Move Past mPOS

As the U.S. continues to embrace EMV (though slowly compared

to other nations), technology, especially mPOS, is moving commerce beyond chip

cards and PINs.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Alex Choi, chairman of BBPOS,

stated that, in the transition to EMV, “the United States has done a lot of

work,” but that more work remains to be done. The key trend that is underway

and must accelerate is one where consumer behavior itself must change. This is

true, especially in the United States, he added, where consumers, newly being

introduced to mPOS and EMV, “are not used to waiting for their transactions”

to be completed, as has been common for chip cards. And, for smaller

merchants, he added, there’s been initial hesitation with committing to the

new equipment but, with smaller formats (and, in some cases, smaller

transactions in terms of value), becomes a clearer choice, especially as the

use of digital transactions in lieu of actual cash grows.

In a recent example of BBPOS’ push into the smaller merchant

client base, the company last month signed an agreement with Smart Card

Marketing Systems, through which the companies integrate EMV, Bluetooth and

NFC devices, which should have allure for smaller merchants, keeping client

banks, telecoms or merchants from having to build out more hardware ecosystems

to manage transactions. In essence, the function is app-enabled, and the

transaction is done with the push of a button. Smart devices operate on both

ends of the transaction, at both the merchant and the consumer points, said

Choi.

Separately, Ben Lo, founder and chief technology officer, told

PYMNTS that beyond mPOS, the Smart Card relationship demonstrates that, for

adjacent payments interactions, there is not necessarily the need to “study

software development kits and communicating with payment processors or the

acquiring bank.”

And one place where device integration is looking bright in

other areas cited by both BBPOS executives: next-generation vending machines.

Speaking of one company in the space, Lo said that turnkey solutions, such as

the Smart Card one, has appeal. “The vending market,” added Choi, “is one that

holds a lot of promise but is also one that is waiting for the right

solution.” One key impetus for device integration will continue to be the

digital transformation mentioned above; as Lo noted, phones and other smart

devices are recognized as becoming more secure than plastic cards in the sense

that they involve “at least one more form of authentication, whether it is a

fingerprint or PIN.”

Source: http://www.pymnts.com/news/mobile-commerce/2016/bbpos-says-

its-time-to-move-past-mpos/