Accumulate and Payex Enable Retail Payments With Mobile Phones

By
Miikka Kukkosuo
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Deal Cash With Your Mobile
The Swedish mobile payment and security solution provider Accumulate has announced expanding their technology further into physical point-of-sale (POS) payments with mobile. Accumulate is partnering with PayEx, a Swedish-based payment system provider, to allow retail customers pay their purchases with mobile instead of cash.
The service is piloted in Sweden on the island of Gotland in selected stores. The claimed benefits are reduction in cash handling and increased security. It is also said to be fast and cost-effective to the end customers, and even very small amounts can be paid without incurring high transaction costs for the retailer.
Accumulate delivers the patent-pending mobile technology, while PayEx is responsible for the overall infrastructure. A mobile payment terminal is needed in the retailer’s premises, and a client software in the end customer’s mobile handset.
Users must first register an account with PayEx that is connected to a bank account or credit card, and naturally install the client to their phone as well. Also RFID technology can be used for the payment, through either NFC enabled phone model or some other RFID enabled card is needed (e.g., a Swedish public transportation card).
User flow for buying a cup of coffee:
1) the buyer starts the PayEx client on the handset
2) the retailer enters the sum to the payment terminal and the buyer sweeps the handsets near the terminal
4) the transaction is shown on the customer’s handset, and can be accepted by pressing OK (or the amount changed) and entering their personal code. Also credit can be used for part or whole of the purchase.
In addition to POS use, the solution can also be used to transfer money person-to-person, person-to-machine, and also in online shopping.
Offers increased security, as in order to execute a purchase, the mobile phone must be switched on, the program in the mobile phone started, and purchase approved with a pin code. However, combined with the need of creating an account beforehand and installing the software, this also creates quite a big challenges for getting the solution out there.

Accumulate logoThe Swedish mobile payment and security solution provider Accumulate has announced (in Swedish) expanding their technology further into physical point-of-sale (POS) payments with mobile. Accumulate is partnering with PayEx, a Swedish-based payment system provider, to allow retail customers pay their purchases with mobile phones.

Payex mobileThe service is piloted  in selected stores on the island of Gotland in Sweden. The claimed retailer benefits of the new solution are reduction in cash handling and increased security. The service is said to be fast and cost-effective to the end customers, and even very small amounts can be paid without incurring high transaction costs for the retailer.

Accumulate delivers the patent-pending mobile technology, while PayEx is responsible for the overall infrastructure. A mobile payment terminal is needed in the retailer’s premises, and a client software in the end customer’s mobile handset. Users must first register an account with PayEx that is connected to a bank account or credit card, and naturally install the client to their phone as well. Also RFID technology is needed, either in the form of NFC enabled phone model or some other RFID enabled item, for example a keyring or a Swedish public transportation card that are associated with the customer’s mobile.

Example user flow for a purchase:

  1. The buyer starts the PayEx client on the handset
  2. The retailer enters the sum to the payment terminal and the buyer sweeps the handset/RFID item near the terminal
  3. The transaction is shown on the customer’s handset, and can be accepted by pressing OK (or the amount changed) and entering their personal code. Also credit can be used for part or whole of the purchase.

In addition to POS use, the solution can also be used to transfer money person-to-person, person-to-machine, and in online shopping.

Accumulate states the solution offers increased transaction security, as in order to execute a purchase, the mobile phone must be switched on, the program in the mobile phone started, and purchase approved with a pin code. However, combined with the need of creating an account beforehand, and installing the software, that also creates quite big challenges for getting the solution out there into use.