VeriFone Holdings Inc. on Thursday named Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC as one of its preferred merchant processors for users of its mobile phone card reader.
The San Jose company's PayWare Mobile device attaches to Apple Inc.'s iPhone and enables people to accept card-present credit and debit transactions.
Almost every major processor already supports PayWare mobile, Pete Bartolik, a VeriFone spokesman, said Thursday. (An exception is Heartland Payment Systems Inc., which is embroiled in a legal dispute with VeriFone.)
PayWare Mobile first became available through resellers in January. Apple is expected to begin selling them through its retail stores and online by Tuesday.
"If someone goes into an Apple store or Apple online and has an existing merchant account relationship, then they can go straight to that provider. They don't have to go to Paymentech," Bartolik said. "This is really geared toward people who don't have a merchant account. It's really focused on getting these people up and running as quickly and easily as possible."
Chase Paymentech is the second preferred processor; VeriFone in December named Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s First Data Corp. as a preferred provider when it introduced the device.
"I think you'll see other processors step into the PayWare Mobile market as well," Bartolik said.
Chase Paymentech, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., is one of the largest merchant processors in the country.
Bartolik would not provide details on the terms of VeriFone's contract with Chase Paymentech.
VeriFone is aiming PayWare Mobile at small businesses that currently do not accept credit or debit cards.
Because customers can swipe their cards through the device, merchants can avoid paying the higher fees for card-not-present transactions that are incurred when using some other mobile phone card readers that do not support swiping.
VeriFone has said it's working on versions of PayWare for other mobile phones, including Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry devices and phones that use Google Inc.'s Android or Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile operating systems.
"The goal is to make this product available broadly in the method of distribution that most suits the end user," Bartolik said.