Absa has partnered with local payments innovations company thumbzup, to bring a new mobile payment acceptance technology to the market.
The Payment Pebble smart card-reader device plugs into the 3.5mm audio PIN on a mobile device (such as smartphones or tablets), allowing for the acceptance of payments via debit or credit card.
"As a first step, the merchant simply downloads the Pebble's mobile app and, once registered, receives a pre-configured Payment Pebble that plugs into the mobile phone. Once plugged into the mobile phone, Absa's Pebble is turned into a mobile point-of-sale terminal where merchants can accept card payments in real-time anywhere in SA," says Absa.
According to the bank, the innovation will create a "tectonic shift" in the payments space. "It's a truly local, fully global and proudly South African innovation."
Absa head of retail markets, Arie Rautenbach, says there is no other mobile acceptance device in the world that enables merchants to process payments remotely - with a plug-in device - containing a mobile app (available for iOS, Android and BlackBerry) that supports chip, PIN and magnetic stripe cards, and allows both debit and credit card transactions without the need for a power supply.
CEO and founder of thumbzup, Stafford Masie, says the Payment Pebble is manufactured and stocked locally, and will ultimately also be exported from SA.
Masie says other mobile payment acceptance technologies on the market that use Bluetooth offer a "configuration nightmare" and with the Payment Pebble, the focus is on extreme simplicity. The Pebble interacts with any smartphone seamlessly, without any need for complex synchronisation. The device costs less than $40 to manufacture.
According to Masie, thumbzup has also developed patented PIN entry and push payment methods for the Payment Pebble. Once the card has been inserted into the device, the Pebble generates a unique number which is displayed on its screen. The user must then use a scroll wheel that appears on the display of the mobile device, and use it to change the unique number to their PIN.
Thumbzup has also developed a keypad that can be attached to the Pebble and used as an alternative to a mobile device.
"The Pebble will be as safe as a traditional point-of-sale," says Masie, adding that it will be EMV Level 2, PCI PTS and SRED certified. The device can also be remotely activated, deactivated and reactivated. Through the mobile app, rich receipts can also be generated for the transactions, including location information.
"We are focusing on becoming the iPhone of payments - we want to change the game."
Masie says thumbsup has already raised over R80 million in VC funding, and has 20 employees, but is growing "exponentially".
The Payment Pebble will be officially released to market through Absa's channels in the first quarter of next year. The key target market is merchants that require on-the-go payment acceptance, but Absa says it also sees the device being taken up by consumers to perform easy card transactions.
According to Masie, thumbzup will release APIs to allow third parties to develop Web and mobile apps in order for their services to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the Payment Pebble. Further information for developers is available on the thumbzup Web site.
Absa believes that until now, the ability for merchants to accept payments anywhere, in real-time, has been missing. "There is an untapped market of about 400 000 merchants who are currently on the periphery of the national economy that need this."
Rautenbach says: "It is a game-changing innovation with the potential to transform the way in which entrepreneurs can safely accept offsite payments."
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