By now many Americans have heard of the mobile wallet. Yet, what really is a mobile wallet?
Currently when you pay with a credit card at a retailer you open your wallet, get out your credit card, swipe it through the credit card terminal and complete your purchase. In the future with a mobile wallet you will not have a need to carry around a wallet anymore. Instead, you will simply tap your mobile phone to a credit card terminal and your purchase will be completed.
For example, this November Starbucks outlets throughout the United Sates will accept mobile wallet payments through Square, who has developed a mobile wallet app for Smart Phones. The mobile wallet is a new and exciting thing. When you walk into a more trendy place like Starbucks it makes sense that they would have the latest way to pay for something in their store. Other competitors of Square such as Phone Swipe offer the same tap and go and mobile merchant services at a lower rate.
The concept of the mobile wallet is about 2 years new. Providers such as Choice Merchant Services have offered the Vivopay 4000 tap and go terminal to their merchants for 2 year now. The Vivopay 4000 allows customers to make a credit or debit card payment via tap and go with their mobile wallet, or via the use of a traditional swipe. This tool allows both new and more tranditional forms of payment so a company can accept payments of early adopters who are using the mobile wallet as well as the traditional swipe methods.
Some pundits have said that this is a major change to the credit card processing industry that threatends traditional merchant service providers. They are wrong. The industry is simply evolving as new technology comes into existence. As long as a company’s merchant services provider offers Tap and Go technology, Mobile Wallet merchant equipment, great customer service, and a lower merchant services rate compared to the competitor – they will continue to grow and thrive.
