Ingenico Launches NFC mPOS Solution

Ingenico is bringing contactless payment to smaller retailers, with a little bit of contact.

At the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday (March 2), the France-based mobile payment technology firm unveiled a contactless payment receiver that plugs into a headphone jack. Ingenico touts the NFC-supportive product – called the RP170c – as being able to allow almost any merchant to accept payment via Apple Pay, MasterCard’s contactless technology and Visa payWave, whether a card relies on EMV or mag stripe.

Ingenico’s intent in devising the RP170c – which, the company asserts, will support virtually any Android or iOS device – is to make mobile wallet technologies like Apple Pay available at locations beyond just the large retail chains.

“Ingenico Group has a strong track record of innovation when it comes to EMV and NFC as we were the first one to develop combined EMV and NFC features in smart terminals in the U.S. and across the globe,” said Jacques Guerin, EVP smart terminals and mobile solutions at Ingenico Group. “Today, we are introducing the only mPOS solution that will be able to process Apple Pay, MasterCard contactless and Visa payWave transactions. With such a solution, we continue to provide merchants with future-proof mPOS solutions.”

In the press release announcing the RP170c, Ingenico outlined additional features of the product, including: an NFC/contactless reader and dual track magnetic stripe reader (MSR) in one unit; EMV Level 1 contactless certification; qVSD, MSD (Visa), M/Stripe and M/Chip (MasterCard) certification; an audible buzzer and color LEDs to signal completed contactless transaction; an integrated extended-life rechargeable battery; and a developer-friendly SDK for mobile application integration.

According to the report, the RP170c is expected to be available to consumers in June 2015, both from Ingenico as well as from third parties that will label it with their own brands.