Thyron Systems, the leaders in mobile card based transaction terminals will be launching an exciting new product at Retail Solutions, the UK's premier retail exhibition at the NEC.
With the introduction of Chip and PIN in the UK, the retail sector have largely upgraded their fixed EPOS estate to support the new PIN based cards in use. However, with the ubiquitous take up of wireless technology in retail premises and the need to provide event driven mobile EPOS solutions, finding a certified Chip and PIN application that can be easily integrated into Mobile EPOS hardware has been a challenge.
MOBePOS is an integrated solution combining handheld mobile computing hardware such as PDAs and rugged terminals with an approved Chip and PIN device.
Thyron's Chip and PIN certified mobile GPRS terminal, the PayCell MPT500, has been enhanced to support Bluetooth connectivity. Using a simplified API the Mobile EPOS hardware sends its payment instruction, by Bluetooth, to the PayCell MPT500. The Chip and PIN transaction is then authorised with the Bank over GPRS and the transaction result is returned to the Mobile EPOS device.
All the Chip and PIN card processing and receipt printing is carried out on the Thyron terminal, so any mobile EPOS hardware that supports Bluetooth can be interfaced to the PayCell MPT500 to provide an approved solution.
Also, as the PayCell MPT500 has an integrated thermal printer, the portable EPOS terminal can pass printed formats using a simple XML schema to allow additional printing functionality outside of the payment application, thus negating the need for additional hardware such as belt printers.
At Thyron's stand at the show a practical demonstration of MOBePOS will be given. PCS, one of Thyron's business partners, have ported their "Retail Mobile" EPOS solution onto a rugged PDA and have in turn integrated the payment function to the PayCell" MPT500.
MOBePOS can be deployed in a number of scenarios in Retail as well as other areas of Mobile Computing:
- Temporary retail EPOS tills
- Queue busting
- Concerts and events
- Hospitality, linking table ordering and payment
- Logistics and delivery
- Ticketing for transport
The key benefit to adopting MOBePOS is that bespoke and sometimes complex EPOS software can be continued to be developed and supported on a number of differing mobile computing platforms. Regardless of which hardware is used, the Chip and PIN payments functionality will always be available and supported going forward.