PRINCETON, N.J. – Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., said it will introduce a payments application and a card reader that attaches to a smart phone in the same manner as Square’s or VeriFone’s payWare Mobile readers.
The target is small and midsize merchants that have long lines in stores they want to reduce, or folks out in the field accepting payments.
The merchant processor has launched Mobuyle, an application for merchants seeking mobility and security. Heartland said it is the first U.S. processor to develop its own mobile-payment application for use within stores.
“Mobuyle is designed to work with a portable device, making it flexible in a lot of retail settings,” said Steve Elefant, Heartland’s chief information officer. “But it also is for a mobile workforce, be it a plumber or a pizza delivery person, so the merchant can have a sales force in the field completing transactions,” he said.
Mobuyle operates on Google’s Android smart phones and tablets. Heartland says it plans to release applications later this year for other smart phones and mobile products, including Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices.
Research and development of Mobuyle took nearly a year, as Heartland chose the Android operating system because of its widespread use and the processor’s drive to “develop a functional application for real merchants who make a lot of transactions” and who would benefit by having mobile-payment terminals that can reduce customer lines in their stores, Elefant said.
Heartland’s entire force of 1,000-plus salespeople will be introducing Mobuyle to the processor’s merchants, who may download the Mobuyle application for free at the Android Market. Merchants also may purchase the Mobuyle Encrypting Reader, which plugs into their phone’s audio jack directly from Heartland, Elefant said.
