PYMNTS, an online resource for data and analysis related to payments and transactions, issued its monthly report this week highlighting key information obtained from 2014. The report, “A Monthly Update of the State of the Mobile Point of Sale System,” takes a look back at the enterprises involved in the payment sector and the trends they helped shape last year.
“2014 was the year that mPOS went mainstream.”
Gathering Information
The data PYMNTS uses comes from over 130 different businesses in the market. Using its Mobile Point of Sale Tracker, PYMNTS began 2014 by identifying and scoring industry players based on their available payment methods, supported operating systems and devices, and geographic span. From there, PYMNTS takes a look at each company individually, noting what changes happened over the last year and what each business plans to bring to the table in the near future.
“2014 was the year that mPOS went mainstream,” the report stated. “Deployments of mPOS began to take off and existing mobile point of sale players began to expand their product offerings and incorporate additional functionality into their existing point of sale platforms.”
The rise and fall of several scores helped to highlight these numerous trends, allowing now for an overall look at the status of the industry and aid in paving the way forward. Without a doubt, 2014 was a busy year for all.
Analyzing Results
Stepping back and reviewing the industry as a whole, several reoccurring concepts appeared in 2014. Security was one of the most noteworthy issues, as companies did their best to satisfy customer needs and concerns in a year ripe with system breaches and server hacks. Now security is at the forefront of hardware and software development, allowing companies to stay ahead of their client’s concerns.
Another trend revolves around the growth of mPOS in Asia and the Middle East, such as BusinessWire reports, where payment options were formerly unavailable when compared to western nations. The use of tablet devices in the place of larger terminal POS systems almost emerged strong, including Ziosk’s tabletop tablets now featuring in restaurants in all 50 states. Many of these institutions have been pushing towards adopting EMV or mobile device readers, but above all the focus remains on creating consumer approachability, enabling customer businesses to take on more payment methods and enjoy easier, more efficient ways of managing transactions.
While EMV has not picked up as much traction as industry insiders once predicted this time last year, the plan to push towards more integrated EMV use is pressing forward. Credit and debit card companies within the United States, as an example, have laid out an adoption schedule for EMV that uses potential penalties for not making the transition as incentive to act now.
