TSYS Smartphone Service Faces Scant Competition: Analyst

Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, faces "very little direct competition" for a service launched this week that enables mobile merchants to accept cards via smartphones, Nick Holland, senior analyst for Aite Group, a Boston-based consulting firm, tells CardLine. The United States-based processor on Tuesday introduced "MobilePASS," designed for such on-the-road merchants as plumbers and pizza-delivery workers (CardLine GLOBAL?, 13 Oct.). Merchants download the card-acceptance application from the processor's Web site before paying a fee to gain the merchant ID needed to accept payments. Merchants also can attach, via Bluetooth, a card reader and printer to the smartphone. "Although the main point-of-sale vendors such as VeriFone [and] Hypercom have standalone mobile terminals, they have yet to enter the market with a purely soft solution for use on smartphones," Holland says. "Ditto other processors." He sees bright prospects for the service. "Small-business owners have a high penetration of smartphones, and they are often out of the office," he says. "This type of solution would be perfect for the tradesman or delivery-based service."