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VeriFone Systems Inc. on Thursday introduced a new point-of-sale terminal product line that embraces design cues from consumer electronics. With the new terminal line, VeriFone also introduced its first app store.
Dubbed Engage, the series of six devices, which includes two countertop terminals, two PIN pads, and two portable devices, uses large screens and buttons. Apps will be available in a new VeriFone App Marketplace that will enable merchants to use other commerce services, such as offering coupons and rewards.
The app store will be available in 2016. The first Engage-branded devices will be tested in the fourth quarter, and released throughout 2016.
Engage is much closer to a consumer-electronics industrial design and user experience, and much less about a single-use payments product, Erik Vlugt, VeriFone vice president of global products, tells Digital Transactions News. “The vision is commerce-driven with a commerce-enabled set of connected devices,” Vlugt says.
“What we have found is that consumers are now expecting a consumer-electronics type of experience with any device they interact with,” he says. “It could be an ATM, a navigation system, or a payment terminal.”
Among the technical capabilities of the Engage product line is the ability to render multimedia content and the use of touchscreens and navigation pads. Inside the terminals, a Linux operating system provides the software foundation.
The addition of Linux, which has powered VeriFone’s multilane terminals for about 10 years, also expands the potential number of app developers, Vlugt says. “To realize the vision with the app marketplace, you don’t get that scale unless you have a development environment that is open and developers understand,” he says.
All of the devices accept magnetic stripe and EMV cards, and have near-field communication (NFC) and Bluetooth low-energy connectivity. VeriFone would not disclose pricing.
The company’s current POS terminals will be sold alongside the Engage devices, Vlugt says.
