Verizon And Mastercard Want To Turn Smartphones Into Payment Terminals

One of the problems faced by smaller businesses is how they accept payments. For some smaller businesses, they might not be able to accept payments other than cash, which can be a bit troublesome for their customers. However, Verizon and Mastercard have announced a partnership that could help out with that.

With this partnership, both companies envision a future in which smartphones could be used as an NFC payment terminal. This means that stores won’t need to purchase additional equipment to accept non-cash forms of payment. This will also leverage Verizon’s 5G networks to help facilitate the process.

Speaking to CNBC, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said, “5G will enable the small- and-medium business to handle transactions more quickly and focus on what they are really delivering to customers. You can use 5G to create more frictionless ways of transacting with your customers and focus on your business. That’s of course what we see with touchless stores and coming out from Covid, I think we see much more touchless because it’s part of our society today.”

The concept of using phones as payment terminals isn’t exactly new though. Companies like Square already make accessories that help smartphones accept card payments, so like we said, it’s not an entirely new concept. That being said, Verizon and Mastercard’s partnership is only expected to launch in 2023, so it will be a while before we see it become a reality.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: iPhone, mastercard, Verizon