Acculynk Inc. is taking its online PIN debit payment system, PaySecure, and adapting it for smartphones.
Starting later this quarter, participating merchants may integrate PaySecure into a mobile application's checkout process as a payment option. Consumers possessing an eligible debit card then may enter their PIN on a virtual, scrambling PIN pad to complete a transaction. The process is similar to how consumers initiate PaySecure transactions online with personal computers.
Acculynk developed PaySecure Mobile after merchants inquired about how the company might fit PaySecure with their mobile channels, according to its chief executive, Ashish Bahl.
"This is a simple way for an entity to get into mobile without having to make a research-and-development application investment," Bahl said in an interview.
PaySecure Mobile will be available on apps for Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Google Inc.'s Android-powered phones, Research In Motion Ltd.'s Blackberry and phones that use Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 7 mobile operating system.
"What we're doing now is chipping away at the networks' card bases and expect to announce a major U.S. issuer soon," Bahl said.
PaySecure Mobile's entry into the mobile payments space adds to an already crowded field. Consumers could gravitate toward PaySecure because it already contains familiar features, said Beth Robertson, director of payments research at Javelin Strategy and Research in Pleasanton, Calif.
"The addition of a PIN and the way the PIN pad works would make consumers more secure," Robertson said. "Those are two desirable features."
However, most consumers are unfamiliar with PaySecure's process, though smartphones have enabled them to have new experiences thanks to apps, she said.
Acculynk also might need to partner with a major merchant from the start with PaySecure Mobile to gain consumer adoption, Robertson said.
"Consumers are waiting for merchants to roll them out and merchants are waiting for consumers to adopt them," Robertson said.
