PhoneTransact.com Mobile Barcode Reader Turns Your iPhone or iPad Into A Cash Register

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

We already know there are a nearly unlimited number of applications for your iPhone (News - Alert), iPad or iPod Touch, but the good news is that if you are a merchant or a professional who works on the road or in clients’ homes, soon you can use any of these devices as a kind of cash register. Indianapolis-based company PhoneTransact.com this week begins shipping a peripheral device for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch that essentially acts as a credit card reader. The reader is designed to work with the company’s existing iPhone point of sale (POS) application, iMerchantPro.

Previous to the introduction of the reader, merchants could use iMerchantPro to type in card numbers and expiration dates. With the introduction of the company’s Credit Card Reader, which attaches to the device via a dock connector, the need to type in card numbers is eliminated and merchants can process payments quickly and more easily, much the way merchants in brick-and-mortar stores use card swipe devices linked to traditional cash registers. To meet security and encryption rules, the device uses 3DES (Triple DES) encryption mandated for the electronic payments industry. iMerchantPro is compatible with almost any merchant account, features bi-directional card reading and magnetic fingerprint technology to confirm the authenticity of a credit card and meets ANSI/ISO standards. Users must have a decryption-enabled gateway.

The company identifies the new card reader and its supporting iMerchantPro software as critical for merchants who frequently work on the road at festivals, flea markets and trade shows, and for professionals who do their work in private homes such as repairmen and contractors, private tutors or home health care professionals. The solution allows payers to add tips to the total charges. And here’s an extra fun detail: in case merchants miss the old-fashioned sound of a cash register, iMerchantPro can replicate it.

In addition to processing payments, iMerchantPro allows merchants to facilitate refunds, credits, voids, e-mail receipts, GPS map-enhanced receipts, multi-business environments, sales charts and statistics, password protection, audio feedback, fraud protection and recurring billing. The solution can be installed on up to five iPhone, iPad or iPod devices at no additional cost.

The new reader is debuting at a list price of $130 and begins shipping on August 15th.

(source: http://mobile-barcode.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-barcode-trends/articles/95320-phonetransactcom-mobile-barcode-reader-turns-iphone-ipad-into.htm)