PayPal, HP Team On New POS

In a move to target small and medium-sized businesses and hospitality companies, HP has announced it has teamed up with PayPal to release what it calls an “all-in-one” point of sale (POS) unit, with PayPal handling the payment processing and other financial-related services.

According to a report in ZDNet, VP and GM of Retail Solutions for HP Aaron Weiss said HP hasn’t made many strides in the SMB market.

Because of that, HP is “leveraging the success that we’ve had in the upper tiers of the retail and hospitality market and bringing that together in a way that addresses needs of SMB retailers and hospitality operators,” Weiss said.

The Android-based POS will be called the HP Engage One Prime. According to HP, it is optimized specifically for SMBs in the retail and hospitality industries. It will have an integrated magnetic card reader, near-field communication (NFC) and a barcode scanner that is camera-based.

Customers have some customization options when they acquire the unit, and can choose a CPU speed, the amount of memory and storage they need and a slew of other options. For the processing of EMV payment methods, HP said it was relying on PayPal for the hardware.

The companies will provide customers with a hardware suite, the POS software and help with setup and maintenance. HP said it will also work with other payment providers besides PayPal, and that it will bundle some independent software vendors with Engage as well.

“We saw an opportunity with this product to create a partnership with a key player in this space in payments, and that’s with PayPal,” Weiss said. “It’s an opportunity for us to leverage their leadership with payment services, and their experience and reach with the SMB market. They are also a trusted and recognized brand and they have fantastic customer support as well.”

The POS suite should be available next month, HP said.