Apple Picks payleven For European Chip & PIN Sales

When Apple takes an interest in your company, odds are you’re doing something right.

That’s certainly how payleven feels today, as the MPOS company is announcing that its Chip & PIN reader is now available in European Apple stores and through the Apple website.

How does payleven view its deal with Apple as validation of its product, and how do they anticipate that it will help them with scale? PYMNTS.com spoke with Konstantin Wolff, co-founder and CMO at payleven, to learn more.

PYMNTS.com: You’re announcing today that payleven’s Chip & PIN reader is available in European Apple stores and through the Apple website in the countries where payleven is active. Let’s start off with the obvious here what do you think this is going to do for payleven in terms of scale and acceptance?

Konstantin Wolff: Yes, that is correct. Apple has chosen to retail payleven’s Chip & PIN card readers making this technology available via retail for the first time ever. Of course like no other brand in the world, Apple stands for innovation and state-of-the-art technology. The fact that they decided on our solution guarantees immense exposure for both our product and brand. Last but not least, the deal will help a lot in gaining card acceptance amongst consumers and confirms the rising importance of MPOS, as also stated by Visa and other players within the finance world.

You write in the release that this if the first time a Chip & PIN solution is available via retail. Why has it taken so long for a product like this to hit the retail market?

The solutions offered in the MPOS market were often not retail ready due to various high acceptance barriers, such as contract duration, monthly fees, etc. With our pay as you go model and innovative Chip & PIN solution, this changed. In general, retail partners are key in moving forward with the development of MPOS and in our case, Apple is the first of a string of partnerships we are going to announce over the coming months. Obviously, deals like this do not happen overnight. Now we are happy to see our Chip & PIN card readers on their shelves.

Why do you think Apple was interested in agreeing to sell payleven? What does that say about payleven’s stake in a crowded European MPOS market?

I believe that Apple specifically decided on our solution, which speaks for itself … We work hard to provide the best MPOS solution possible and are very proud to have made this deal happen.

I know the solution is available everywhere payleven is active right now – remind us of exactly where that is, what you’re looking at right now in terms of volume or users (if you can share), and tell us if you have any plans for expansion in the near future.

Of course the deal is built on scalability and expansion is a part of our strategy for the next year. We are currently active in Germany, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Brazil. Also, without sharing any numbers we notice a remarkable growth in terms of registrations. 2013 is a very good year for us. Alone, the recently announced partnership with global POS system leader MICROS, who integrated our solution into their tablet system, will give us a vast reach with European merchants. This is the perfect base from which to move forward.

How does payleven plan to stay ahead of the curve?

With a strong focus on product development as well as partnerships and distribution! Our strategy is to develop a solution that goes further than just card payments. The payleven system gives room for immense and highly effective possibilities for merchants covering additional angles such as marketing and CRM etc. We think that this kind of holistic MPOS solution is the future and holds a vast amount of potential for our business.