A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile.
The product eliminates the need for card-swiping hardware and does away with the requirement of typing card information onto a phone keyboard, the company said in a June 23 press release.
Card.io is offering the software to mobile developers, who could integrate it into programming, the release said.
“There is a huge opportunity to grab developer mind share,” the release said.
The company is charging 15 cents per scan with no contracts or monthly fees, according to the company website.
The company also announced June 23 that it has raised $1 million in funding from private investors for the project.
“We’re betting that, over the long term, software will win out over hardware-dependent payment” services, Mike Mettler, Card.io CEO, said in the release.
However, Gil B. Luria, an analyst at Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities Inc., told PaymentsSource in a phone interview that he sees the product as a short-term bridge technology, useful only until Near Field Communication takes hold in mobile payments.
