October 11, 2024

Merchants eye mobile phones to transact card payments

Merchants on the go have more options today when it comes to processing credit card transactions, with smart-phone credit card processing applications offering the potential for higher sales, faster collections and fewer bad debts.

Several applications turn merchants’ mobile devices into credit card terminals. This slide show of screen shots from Innerfence’s credit card terminal application for the iPhone shows how one such system works.

Users of iPhone, Palm Treo, HP iPAQ, Sprint Moto and other phones can purchase credit card processing applications that allow them to take credit card payments and transmit them securely without any carrying add-on magnetic stripe readers or other technology. These applications free merchants from their offices, land-lines and special processing equipment, potentially making business easier for merchants and employees who frequently work remotely.

The applications are part of a broad-based effort by smart-phone manufacturers and application developers to push more business-related functions to all-in-one smart phones, making them more attractive to business owners and corporations.

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