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Getting m-POS ready for EMV in the US

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23 January 2015
Zilvinas Bareisis
As we highlighted in our recent report The Update on EMV Migration in the US: Leaving the Station and Building up Steam, the US market is finally making a strong progress towards EMV. While many of the barriers we discussed in the past have been dismantled, there are still challenges that remain. One such challenge is the upgrade to m-POS platforms. Square has created an entirely new market a few years ago with a simple 'dongle' that a merchant could connect to his smartphone's or tablet's headphone socket and start accepting cards. The customer would swipe the card, sign on the phone and that would be it. Now Square and its many competitors have to bring out new devices that support EMV cards. That also means a change for merchants, and they will have options. Square announced its new device in November last year. Unlike most of m-POS solutions in Europe, it will not support chip and PIN, but will be a standalone chip card reader and will support signature as the cardholder verification method. It will start shipping in spring, but will not be free - merchants will have to pay $29 for the mobile chip card reader and $39 for the accessory to Square Stand. Earlier this month PayPal Here also announced that it will be bringing its EMV reader already available in the UK and other markets to the US. And in addition to iOS and Android, it will support Microsoft Surface Pro 3, and other devices running Windows 8.1. First Data's Clover has launched Clover Mobile, a mobile and EMV compatible version of its Clover m-POS platform. Unlike Square's readers, Clover Mobile also supports NFC transactions, including Apple Pay. And then there is Poynt, launched at last year's Money2020. Poynt is described as “a future-proof device that accepts magnetic stripe, EMV, NFC, Bluetooth and QR code payment technologies. You are ready to accept your customers’ favorite payment methods: Apple Pay, chip-and-pin, mobile apps, and whatever else the future brings.” Of course, there are other options, above solutions are just a few examples. The challenge for merchants is deciding if and when to upgrade the readers and whether to stick with their existing provider. As always, risk-based assessment will be key. For example, whenever I am in Vegas, I try to visit a small shop that sells vinyl records, which accepts card payments via Square. If I were the owner, I would look to upgrade to an EMV reader as soon as possible - while it's not a coffee shop in terms of frequency of transactions, most payments are tens and hundreds of dollars. On the other hand, a local dry cleaner who already knows most of its customers will be less compelled to upgrade. Clearly, not everyone will be ready by the liability shift deadline in October, but merchants with the risky profile should make sure they are.

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