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24/06/2010 -
The release of Apple's iPhone 4 on Thursday has consumers and industry experts asking what phones can do next, including possibly serving as a personal credit-debit machine.Experts at industry conferences and meetings debate whether cell phones with card swipes or payment software applications would help merchants more, PaymentsSource reports. Some field experts believe the hardware-based system could speed up long check-out lines while others favor the software-based system that only requires a cell phone.
Before cell phone swipe services became available, most merchants depended on a wireless payment device that could cost up to $800 to install. Most services generally serve smaller businesses and are compatible with smart phones such as the iPhone, PaymentsSource reports.
"Line-busting" devices like VeriFone's PayWare would allow retail employees to scan items and take payments on the merchandise floor, rather than having customers wait in slow lines and cancel sales, Allen Weinberg, managing partner of Glenbrook Partners told the magazine.
According to the New York Times, Apple has already received over 650,000 orders for the iPhone 4. On the morning of the phone's release, the line outside the New York Apple store stretched around the building.
