WorldNet, an Ireland-based online payment gateway, says its virtual payment-terminal application released this week for Apple Inc.’s iPhone is the company’s first, and it plans to add chip-and-PIN capability to the software in later versions.
WorldNet has had a Web version of its virtual terminal for the past 12 months, and it “seemed a logical extension to take the virtual terminal into the mobile world,” Will Bryne, WorldNet CEO, tells PaymentsSource. The software, called WorldNet VT, works only with card-not-present transactions. But because many European nations have adopted the EMV smart card standard for payment cards, the next step is to add EMV capability to the software to support card-present transactions, Byrne says.
WorldNet concurrently will develop in-house versions of the software for other mobile-phone operating systems, Byrne adds.
Many merchants would prefer a mobile phone-based payment terminal because of the multiple functions it can support, Byrne says. A traditional wireless-payment terminal has just one purpose, which is to accept payment card transactions. A mobile phone can offer functions besides payment card acceptance, such as making calls or using a calendar, he says.
The potential number of mobile merchants is large, but unlike the United States, the European market has 26 nations, each with differing banking systems, Byrne says. As such, WorldNet’s initial focus will be on the more than 500,000 mobile merchants in Ireland and the United Kingdom, he says. WorldNet also is in discussions to bring its iPhone virtual terminal to two other European markets, but Byrne declined to identify them.
WorldNet VT sells for 3.85 euros (US$5.23 or 3.49 pounds) in Apple’s iTunes store. Merchants also pay a one-time 95 euro activation fee plus a monthly service fee of 30 euros. They also pay 25 euro cents per transaction along with standard transaction costs that include interchange.
