Retail IT News For VARs 3-2-15: NFC POS Use Predicted To Grow
By Phillip Britt, contributing writer
In the news, the number of near-field communications (NFC) point of sale (POS) terminals is predicted to increase, security is the main priority for CIOs this year, and Google is in the process of purchasing Softcard.
NFC-Capable POS On The Rise
According to NFC World and research by Berg Insight, NFC POS terminal usage is expected to increase at a rate of 28.4 percent from 21.4 million in 2014 to 74.9 million in 2019. The research estimates that 9.5 million NFC-enabled POS terminals were shipped worldwide in 2014. While these are NFC capable, most of the terminals have not yet activated the technology. Berg expects 9 million devices to enable contactless payment this year which is quite the increase from 2012 when only 2.6 million were enabled.
Security Is Main Priority For CIOs
According a Forrester report commissioned by National Retail Federation, Retail CIO Agenda 2015: Secure and Innovate, retail CIO’s main priority for the year is to improve the security of their data. Of businesses surveyed, 97 percent reported this priority. Noting the severity of the breaches that took place last year, CIOs know that their work for the year is cut out for them as they strategize for potential cyberthreats. Forrester hypothesizes that at least 60 percent of retail companies will experience a breach of their data this year.
Google Purchases Softcard to Compete with Apple Pay
According to AppleInsider, Google is in the process of purchasing Softcard and will have it run standard on all Android devices running KitKat and above on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks. Softcard works similarly to Apple Pay, using NFC technology and tap-and-pay technology, but not tokenizing in the same way. With Softcard, an individual’s credit card information is stored on their SIM card and when it is time to complete a purchase, it transfers to the POS terminal.
Retail IT Talking Points
According to Payments Source, Samsung’s purchase of LoopPay has some serious challenges ahead. It works with magnetic stripe technology, and while the app can be password protected, it doesn’t keep the data from being skimmed. Additionally, convincing customers to hand over their phones for a transaction could be a challenge and retailers with EVM POS systems might require using the physical card because they need to use the chip.
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