Retail customers of the international payment service provider (PSP), Computop, will now be able to use smartphones at the POS to accept contactless payments.
 
With the new Computop PhonePOS solution, which will be debuted by Computop (Hall 6 booth E24) at the EuroShop trade fair in Dusseldorf (26 Feb-2 Mar) secure PIN entry will allow retailers to accept payments over £50 or 50 euros.
 
The use of commercially available mobile devices, also known as consumer-off-the-shelf-devices (COTS), provides an alternative to card terminals and also enables interaction with other app-based services. Communication between the device and the card takes place via the NFC reader and payment from smartphone to smartphone, for example, via ApplePay or Google Pay is also possible.
 
Software PIN for secure authentication
The PIN, if required, is entered via the screen of the merchant’s device, however, this is only used to authenticate the card and is not stored on the device.
PhonePOS can be used with a large number of current Android smartphones and tablets. The required app is installed via the Google Playstore, and a terminal ID is also required, which is transferred by Computop during the onboarding process.
With the new system solution, Computop is targeting large companies from the retail and service sectors that want to make payment more flexible for their sales staff or delivery service. Small and medium-sized companies can also use PhonePOS via partners. For German retailers, or UK merchants selling in Germany, acceptance of the girocard takes place directly via Computop as an authorised network operator, while the processing of credit card payments is via many acceptance partners due to the acquirer-agnostic approach.

Stephan Kück, Managing Director of Computop, comments: "With PhonePOS, Computop is expanding its portfolio for payments at the POS with a very contemporary update. The full potential of card acceptance via smartphone will become fully apparent in the next few years, however PhonePOS opens up a completely new service and optimisation possibilities for retailers and service providers right now.“