According to a new report from Reuters, Apple will soon introduce a new service that would allow businesses to use iPhones as POS (point of sale) terminals without any additional hardware involved.
The new feature turns the iPhone itself into a payment terminal and will let merchants accept fees with the tap of a credit card or another iPhone onto the back of their device. The move is expected to happen via a software update in the coming months and would allow customers to pay via NFC directly, currently used for ApplePay.
“This effectively allows Apple to bypass rolling out new hardware because a significant amount of customers already carry it (iPhones) in their pocket,” Edward Jones analyst Logan Purk said.
The new move would allow iPhones to act as Software POS (Soft POS) which is already available on Android devices via several third-party apps supporting multiple payment methods including Apple’s own Apple Pay as well as Google Pay, Samsung Pay, bank cards and NFC wearables.
If the iPhone maker keeps its new service exclusive to its apps or payments system, it would bypass Square’s services that are used widely by small businesses. It could also affect other point-of-sale machine makers such as Verifone and Ingenico.
Apple declined to comment on the report.
This will be a welcome development because of the tight security apple has on its platforms