The micro-merchants that were first enabled to accept magstripe card payments from mobile card-reader are now getting the ability to accept contactless payments with hardware from Ingenico.
The Ingenico device, RP170c, plugs into a smartphones headphone jack and can accept Apple Pay, Visa PayWave and MasterCard contactless cards. The device allows merchants to accept both magstripe and EMV contactless payments. There is also a magstripe reader on the device.
This could be especially advantageous for merchants selling wares at outdoor markets in large cities such as New York City that see a significant number of tourists.
Ingenico Group has a strong track record of innovation when it comes to EMV and NFC as we were the first one to develop combined EMV and NFC features in smart terminals in the U.S. and across the globe, said Jacques Guerin, executive vice president of smart terminals and mobile solutions at Ingenico Group, in a March 2 press release from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The RP170c, which can be white-labelled to promote the merchant's brand, is compatible with Ingenicos mobile commerce platforms. This broadens the devices use case to larger merchants that might instead deploy the card reader to sales associates in aisles to reduce queues at the main cashier.
Most mobile card reader providers are building EMV-compatible versions of the devices. Square launched an EMV mobile card reader last year, but attached a $29 price tag to the device, which could
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