ROAM Data’s New SDK Turns Mobile Into Commerce/eCommerce Glue

Mobile technology has already transformed from an accessory to a valuable feature at the point of sale, Bill Pittman says. And ROAM Data wants to continue the progression of that transformation.

Pittman, head of program development for ROAM, expects mobile to end up at the middle of everything in payments “” perhaps most powerfully as a bridge between online and offline commerce. In particular, he sees tablet devices as playing a key role in bringing the best of online shopping to brick-and-mortar stores.

To that end, ROAM this week is releasing a new software development kit (SDK) for mobile devices. Beyond the application programming interface (API) found in most SDKs, ROAM’s kit also includes its own mobile swipe payment acceptance hardware, additional APIs for ROAMpay Swipe and Boarding, a test account for application trials, and documentation for both iOS and Android.

In our conversation with Pittman, we explore the impact of this new SDK on the further integration of mobile technology at the point of sale, and talk about what to expect in the near future as mobile is integrated even more deeply with existing payments systems.