Dallas Merchants Test Image Recognition System for Mobile Checkout
Several merchants in the Dallas area will test Cartwheel Register, a new mobile point of sale system featuring image recognition. The system lets merchants process transactions via an iPhone or iPad application without additional hardware. Tantrum Street, which deployed Cartwheel Register, also plans to release a mobile wallet called SkipWallet to complement the mobile POS. Tantrum Street CEO William Cervin notes that business owners will not have to sign any contract to use Cartwheel Register. “The merchant will be able to be on the sales floor and engage more directly with [customers],” Cervin says. “It should feel cooler for the customers.” Fifteen merchants are piloting Cartwheel Register, which relies on image recognition to accept credit cards and debit cards. Merchants can take a picture of the card, and the app will route the numbers through the back end to process the payment. Consumers also have the option of paying by cash, and in the near future they will be able to use SkipWallet to pay. Cartwheel Register and SkipWallet are free iOS apps.
From “Dallas Merchants Leverage Image Recognition to Simplify Mobile Checkout”
Mobile Commerce Daily (12/06/13) Borison, Rebecca