04 May Grabbing the mPOS opportunity
With the advancements in the mobile and wireless technology, high growth is expected in the Mobile POS (mPOS) terminal industry in the coming years. mPOS terminals are specialized integrated mobile devices (smartphones, tablets or dedicated wireless device) that performs the functions of electronic point-of-sale (POS) terminals. Retail outlets, transportation, restaurants and hospitality sector are highly benefitted by the mPOS terminals due to its ease of use, portability and low operational cost as it is a flexible alternate to traditional POS infrastructure.
As per infographic released by FIME, it is expected to grow by 400% in the next four years and is expected to be worth USD 43 billion by 2018. More than 45% of all the POS terminals are expected to be mPOS by 2019. Advancements in payment technologies coupled with the move towards EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) chip card payment and increasing NFC-based transactions are expected to fuel market momentum.
mPOS has its benefits but it has security and technical challenges too. The manufacturers of the mPOS product terminals can overcome the challenges by following simple steps. Before launching the mPOS product terminal, the manufacturers must prove that it is fit for purpose, or avoid the long delays and re-engineering cost with the product. Since mPOS terminals are prone to malware attacks, a lot of emphasis must be there on building a secured product. The terminal also includes a card reader and a mobile application, both of these should also be rigorously tested to have a fully secured solution.
In addition to the above, the manufacturers shall be able to quickly react to the changes in mobile technology and connect to them without compromising the security and functionality. They shall also adapt to the changes in the mPOS ecosystem. mPOS terminals must align with EMV Level 1 and Level 2 specifications for contact as well as contactless payments.
The testing process of mPOS is complex as compared to traditional POS terminals. In traditional POS, all components are standardized and hence the process is relatively simple where as mPOS terminals includes the user interface, software kernel, PIN pad, card reader and the mobile device and testing all the hardware and software makes it more complex.
