POS Industry Blog

POS News | PayPal Beacon for POS Systems

Have you heard of what PayPal has been up to these days? They're perfecting PayPal Beacon. It's basically a small device that plugs into a standard power outlet, linking POS systems to a customer's PayPal app via Bluetooth Low Energy. Which means customers will soon walk into a participating store and make a purchase without a direct transaction. Hands-free shopping? Perhaps… except for the part where you carry your purchase out of the store -- Beacon definitely can't do that for you. Learn more about PayPal Beacon.

Breaking POS News | Overstock.com to Accept Bitcoin as a Payment Tender

Breaking POS News | Overstock.com, a leading discount online shopping retailer just announced it consumers can purchase items on their site using Bitcoin. This marks the largest retail Bitcoin implementation to date. For the first time ever, customers can purchase a wide selection of goods with bitcoins — from electronics to home accessories — from a trusted, branded vendor. Overstock.com joins a growing list of merchants who have embraced Bitcoin, including our current partners OKCupid, Reddit and Khan Academy, who are enjoying the clear economic benefits of accepting payment in the form of bitcoin, not the least of which is the elimination of credit card transaction fees of upwards of 2% per transaction.

POS News | PulseWallet Credit Card Terminal

POS NEWS | PulseWallet is a credit card terminal & POS register with a built-in biometric palm reader. Inside the reader is an infrared Fujitsu camera that photographs your vein pattern and then pairs it with the credit card you’ve swiped. Once you’ve paired you can hold your hand over any PulseWallet terminal to pay with your credit card. If you’re a business owner, you can hook it up to your POS cash register, or to PulseWallet’s bundled register, which includes a Windows tablet. The whole package was announced at CES 2014 & goes on sale next month for a yet-unspecified price. The payments space might not be PulseWallet’s final destination. The company imagines a future where instead of using a card to open a hotel room, you simply flash your hand when you check in, then flash it again at your door. Payments is only its first try at popularizing palm-scanning in the US.

POS News | Lemon, a Digital Wallet

POS News | Lemon, a digital wallet platform which allows users to store their ID, payment, loyalty cards and more on their smartphone, was acquired by identity theft protection service LifeLock in early December for an undisclosed amount. LifeLock is launching a new application called “LifeLock Wallet,” which is based on Lemon Wallet Plus technology. Details about the acquisition are now said to include a $42.6 million price tag. Will 2014 be the year consumers fully adopt mobile/digital wallets? When it does it will certainly affect the POS industry.

Mercury StoreCard

BREAKING POS News | Inspired by the increasing demand for mobile, gift, and rewards payment solutions… Mercury Payment Systems, LLC, an award-winning provider of payment technology and services for small to mid-sized businesses, today announced the launch of Mercury StoreCard™, a gift, rewards, mobile payments and promotions card all in one. For merchants, Mercury StoreCard addresses a technology gap in the marketplace. Smaller merchants want the marketing power of a big box store, but typically lack the budget and technical expertise to carry out a complicated customer loyalty program. Integration with their existing point-of-sale (POS) system and checkout process remains challenging and creates barriers to entry for most small businesses. MPS hopes to remove barriers by working seamlessly with the merchant’s existing POS system, and payments made with a Mercury StoreCard are processed like any other gift card transaction all while removing much of the effort and complexity that so often accompanies a merchant’s adoption of a new payment technology. Mercury StoreCard will be available to select customers in February 2014, with a broader rollout planned for mid-year.

Will it be a blockbuster or big bust? COIN

So, this summer when you're buying snacks at the movies, you needn't juggle the drink, popcorn & JuJuBees when it's time to pay. Searching for the right piece of plastic will get a bit easier with a new payment tool combining multiple cards into one and allows you to select the appropriate card using a built-in display. Then you'll just swipe it like a normal credit card. Its called, Coin.