Mobile-payments company Apriva announced this week the launch of the AprivaPay and AprivaPay Professional mobile-payment services. The move means Apriva resellers, including ISOs, banks and merchant acquirers, now can resell Apriva’s integrated mobile-payment product.
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Apriva operates its own network that connects mobile-payment terminals to processors.
Both new services enable mobile merchants—those without permanent stores, such as vendors at fairs—to accept payment cards, but each has different costs and features. The two AprivaPay products are available to Apriva’s 280 resellers, says Bill Clark, executive vice president of Apriva’s point-of-sale division. They will be sold at wholesale, which ISOs can mark up for a profit.
“We specialize in mobile-transaction processing,” Clark tells ISO&Agent Weekly. “Now we’re moving into additional mobile platforms.”
Mobile payments also seem to have captured the attention of ISOs. Indeed, 14% of 28 ISOs participating in a recent Aite Group LLC survey released in November cited mobile merchants as a “top emerging market” in 2010. Only e-commerce, at 18%, was favored more as an emerging market in the survey.
How it Works
AprivaPay Professional uses software the company developed that runs on mobile phones. Merchants key transaction data into the device using the software for processing, but they can use an optional magnetic stripe reader with built-in printer to accept card-present purchases, which generally cost merchants less to accept than keyed-in transactions.
AprivaPay Professional initially works only with Windows Mobile phones, but the company expects software for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, Google Inc.’s Android operating system and Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry devices to be available in the coming weeks.
Apriva will sell an integrated printer and card swipe reader for use with AprivaPay. Merchants also can e-mail digital versions of receipts to consumers.
The service will work even when merchants do not have a cellular connection by storing the encrypted transaction data until a network connection resumes, says Clark, who would not reveal the monthly fee for this service.
Merchants access AprivaPay through an Internet browser to enter their payment card transactions. Merchants can operate AprivaPay on a Web-enabled mobile phone or by using a laptop computer. The wholesale price for the service is less than $10 per month, says Clark, noting merchants do not need to buy hardware or software to use AprivaPay.
Mobile payments is a significant market in 2010, especially considering the number of new entrants, such as Square Inc. and Mophie, and VeriFone Holdings Inc.’s Payware Mobile product, Clark says. All rely on a merchant’s cellular phone as the payment terminal.
