Casio Computer Co. Ltd. plans to make available in February a handheld payment terminal designed for public employees who need to take card payments and provide printed receipts, the electronic devices manufacturer announced Dec. 1.
Called the IT-9000-GMC25E, the device provides a thermal printer, a reader designed for Near Field Communication devices and contactless radio-frequency identification tags, an imager for barcode scanning, and a credit card magnetic stripe reader, Tokyo-based Casio stated in a press release.
The terminal scanner reads data on cards, tags and barcode symbols printed on labels and other materials, Casio stated. The device accesses databases via a wireless wide area network and can issue tickets or receipts.
Casio plans to target public employees who issue parking tickets or receipts for public transportation as a niche market for the terminal, the company noted in the release. Company executives were not immediately available for further comment about the new terminal.
If the terminal is lost or stolen, an administrator over a wireless wide area network remotely can erase the data stored internally, Casio stated.
The terminal features a touchscreen designed for visibility indoors or outdoors, Casio said in the release. In addition, the terminal includes a 2-megapixel digital camera with an automatic-focus function.
Los Angeles-based USA ePay developed a similar technology with a handheld payment terminal and receipt printer called PaySaber for conductors to use on the Long Island Rail Road system (
Casio likely will have success selling its handheld terminal to the public-service sector, but it may face some challenges with long-term viability, Paul Martaus, a payments industry consultant and researcher based in Mountain Home, Ark., tells PaymentsSource.
If the device is not tied in with cell-phone capabilities, Casio may have difficulty keeping the product relevant because the cell-phone companies are providing so much “horsepower and flexibility” in the payments industry, Martaus says.
“There are hundreds of thousands of application providers trying to come up with the next hot thing for the cell phones, so someone in a garage someplace would be trying to create something similar to Casio’s terminal and make it cheaper and faster for use on a printer attached to a cell phone,” Martaus suggests.
In addition, Casio may face challenges distributing the terminal, especially to the public-service sector, Martaus adds.
“How will they get it to them, train them on it and upgrade the unit over time?” Martaus asks.
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