Imagine you are a vendor at a conference & you need a way to accept credit cards & process them quickly. Before your options were:

1) collecting credit card #s and processing them over the phone, but taking a risk if the credit cards were expired or bad

2) getting a virtual terminal and paying extra costs to process credit cards in real time

Enter 2010, a new world for Point of Sale with your mobile device. Here’s a just few of the new players that are part of the new wave of virtual POS.

Square is based on a tiny, square-shaped credit card readers — each roughly the size of a quarter that plugs into your iPhone. Along with it,  you use an iPhone application to authorize a credit card, capture a signature, and even email a receipt. They also have a magistripe reader that plugs into your iPhone.

Right now, it looks like Square is looking to target an audience that doesn’t have an establish merchant account or have a permanent place such as a store front. Their typical customer is probably going to trade shows or craft shows on occasion.

Also, Square’s rates are “ok”, if the card is present (swiped), the rate is 1.75% + .15. If the card isn’t present (keyed-in), it’s 3.5% + .15

Payware by Verifone

To use their payment system, you slip the card reader over your phone, which automatically encrypts the swiped cards information before it even reaches the phone. The application allows all of the normal functions of a credit or debit card transaction, including signature capture.

Once the card is swiped, the information can be sent over either a wireless network, or the 3G connection to be verified and authorized by the appropriate credit card processor.

The service is available to existing merchants for the low price of a $15 per month gateway fee, including a one-time $49 sign-up fee. Like other credit card payment services, the service charges the merchant a small fee per transaction, $0.17 in the case of VeriFone.

Mophie, a company who provides rechargable batteries for iPhones, will be providing a magnetic strip reader for the iPhone this summer. It will be interesting what part of the market share they will play into.

What are you excited about? What problems do you see that a mobile POS could solve?

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