Mobile point of sale solutions that allow retail merchants to accept card payments with a smartphone or tablet continue to be a hot topic. Mobile POS services make accepting card payments easier and cheaper, a big advantage especially for small and medium sized companies. See our The Fight for the Mobile Point of Sale article where we provided an introduction to the existing mobile POS services.

So far Jack Dorsey’s Square is the leader when it comes to mobile POS transaction in the U.S. But the competition is heating up. Now even big payment companies start similar services while startups launch Square-like mobile payment products all around the world.

Big payment companies take on the mobile POS market

VeriFone, one of the largest POS terminal makers, starts its own mobile POS service for small merchants called SAIL. It supports integration with traditional VeriFone point-of-sale hardware, making it possible to also accept NFC-based payments. VeriFone charges a 2.7% for swiped transaction (1.95% with a $9.95/m Pro plan).

Mobile POS outside of the United States

Unfortunately Square is only available to customers in the United States so far. Sweden-based iZettle proved that the concept can be very successful implemented in Europe and over the last weeks some interesting services launched outside the U.S.:

• Payment processor Sage Pay has started beta testing of Sage Pay Mobile in the UK. Sage Pay Mobile uses a small terminal that connectes via Bluetooth with the merchants smartphone to process card based payments.
• Another UK-based mobile payment service is Mpowa. The Square-like service will launch soon in the UK and then expand to other parts of Europe and North America.
• Streetpay by Masterpayment will be the first mobile POS service to launch in Germany. The Payment service provider plans to start the service in mid-June this year.
• It is rumored that Berlin incubator Rocket Internet will start a mobile POS service soon. The name of the project already changed from ZenPay to EvoPay and now payleven. Although the service hasn’t been launched yet merchants in Germany can already sign up to get notified when the product is released. According to their German website payleven has no monthly fees and will include a free card reader. Further details remain unclear.