資訊服務Business News

As the pandemic has popularized contactless payments, companies have begun looking to streamline the process and provide merchants with better technology, like turning a smartphone into a payments processing unit. Mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) is the use of a mobile phone as a POS terminal for payment processing, as opposed to a traditional fixed terminal. Smartphones enabled with a near-field communication (NFC) chip can process transactions digitally with the tap of a card or phone. "mPOS enables businesses to accept card payments where they previously could not" and helps retailers such as cab drivers, who operate a mobile business, according to Juniper Research. Shipments of mPOS terminals globally are expected to grow to 32 million units by 2026 from 20 million this year, a 56% uptick.

NMI, a payments infrastructure company that provides omnichannel payments, is working on a pilot program with Mastercard to develop a mobile POS acceptance device. The smartphone device will be connected to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which will help store transaction data on a digital cloud rather than in the hardware or the phone.

 More than 100 million Americans are expected to use proximity mobile payments, compared to 72 million in 2019, according to a May report by eMarketer. The report forecasts that "more than one in two US smartphone users will be proximity, mobile payment users." Last month, Visa launched its tap-to-phone payments pilot in the US with 50 merchants in the Washington DC area with 50 merchants in the Washington, D.C., area. The company plans to expand the pilot to other major U.S. cities to help SMB accept digital payments. About 65% of U.S. consumers would prefer to use contactless payments post-vaccine, while 47% won't shop at a store that doesn't offer a contactless way to pay, Visa said in a January report.

Source: https://www.retaildive.com/news/tap-to-phone-payments-expected-to-gain-traction-industry-experts-say/603920/