Intuit Pay - being tested by hundreds of small businesses - comprises a free mobile app and "low-cost" chip and PIN card reader. As well as enabling merchants to accept card payments in person, the technology also lets them process transactions online from a computer.



Intuit stresses that its UK system is approved for chip and PIN payments by Visa and MasterCard - something other players in the nascent app and dongle market have struggled with.

When it launched in the UK earlier this month, iZettle was forced to introduce a workaround for Visa payments which requires a text message, with an embedded URL, to be sent via the merchant to the purchaser's phone with the card details entered at a secure Web site.

Another firm, mPowa, has told users not to use its current reader, asking them to wait for it to roll out a chip and PIN version. A third company, German-based Payleven, has a similar keypad-based reader to Intuit.

Despite entering a crowded UK market, Intuit says that there is huge potential for its service among small businesses. A survey of 1000 found that just 19% of micro-businesses - firms with less than 10 employees - currently accept card payments but almost half say they would if there was a more affordable way of doing so using their phone or tablet.

Terry Hicks, VP, products, global business division, Intuit, says: "For many small businesses, accepting card payments has simply not been an attractive option. It can take weeks to get set up, the equipment and transactions can be expensive and there is no easy way to take payments on the go. With Intuit Pay you can sign up and begin accepting card payments within minutes."