Apple Inc, is reportedly planning a new service that will enable small businesses to accept payments directly on their iPhones without any extra hardware such as Block Inc’s Square terminals.
The report, monitored on Bloomberg, reveals that the phone maker has been working on the new feature since 2020 when it paid about $100 million for Canadian startup, Mobeewave, which, developed technology for smartphones to accept payments with the tap of a credit card.
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.
According to the report, the system will likely use the iPhone’s near field communications chip that is currently used for Apple Pay.
Logan Purk, an Edward Jones analyst stated that this effectively allows Apple to bypass rolling out new hardware because a significant amount of customers already carry iPhones in their pocket.
Purk, however, added that unless Apple can offer a cheaper product and an easier platform, some business owners may be reluctant to switch.
However, iPhone won’t be the first device to have Mobeewave’s payment acceptance technology. Samsung, which backed the startup before it was sold to Apple, implemented credit card acceptance with a tap on its devices in 2019.
