Foodtown, Woolworths, Countdown mobile payment

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freitasm

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#10694 5-Dec-2006 08:46

While I agree that GPRS is more than adequate for M2M transactions, it always amazes me when companies write "high-speed wireless connections" in the GPRS context. Anyway...

VeriFone Wireless Payment System Implemented by e-pay New Zealand for Progressive Enterprises

Utilizing GPRS Connectivity, Company Deploys Vx 610 at Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown Supermarkets, New Zealand

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VeriFone Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PAY) (TASE: PAY) announced that its Vx 610 wireless solution has been implemented in eight Progressive Enterprises supermarkets in New Zealand by e-pay New Zealand Ltd.
Progressive Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Australian company, Woolworths Limited, operates the Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown supermarket chains in New Zealand and has installed systems in stores under each of these banners based in Auckland City, Chartwell, Mairangi Bay, Queensgate, Sylvia Park, St. James Park, Levin and Hastings. The Vx 610 system utilizes the GPRS cellular data service to connect with processors over high-speed wireless connections.

“Progressive Enterprises is demonstrating the utility and ease of operation that wireless-based payment solutions provide,” said Lazy Yanay, VeriFone Asia managing director. “Wireless payment makes it possible to set up payment quickly, at low cost, and wherever it is needed.”

The Progressive Enterprises stores are using the systems for the electronic distribution of prepaid vouchers with e-pay. e-pay is a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide (Nasdaq: EEFT), a global leader in electronic prepaid processing, or top-up services, for prepaid mobile airtime. The first Vx 610 installed in New Zealand successfully connected to the e-pay host and was set up in less than one-third the time it would take to do so over a dialup connection.

VeriFone’s Vx 610 is a portable, battery-powered payment device with a sleek, compact design. It can be configured with wireless connectivity modules for GPRS, Wi-Fi or CDMA. The solution is ideal for merchants who need to offer payment on the go, or in a temporary location. It can be used in outdoor markets, for delivery service, and for instantly adding an extra lane during peak business hours.

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sbiddle

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#54674 5-Dec-2006 08:55

The terminals only will be pulled out in shortly anyway... It's hardly worth getting excited about!

They are moving to an integrated solution in the future so that e-pay vouchers will be printed directly on the checkout recipt printer (as happens with stores overseas using PosWare/StoreLine systems). These wireless units are just a temporary solution because it was obviously cheaper than cabling stores for the existing e-pay terminals which require a PSTN connection. The terminals don't require 24/7 connectivity anyway, they poll once per day and transfer the sales total and associated data and download an allocation of voucher numbers which are then printed while the terminal is offline.

lowededwookie

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#54690 5-Dec-2006 12:15

This should be expanded to Wellington/Hutt Valley.

I wish more companies took this on. Here in Wellington we pay for parking using Txt-A-Park.

If we could buy petrol (they do it in the States) and groceries via cellphone then it means I could dump all my money into my cellphone account thus only paying one payment instead of three.

Cellphones should be the new credit cards in my opinion.

freitasm

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#54692 5-Dec-2006 12:19

Except if it's not safe like pago.

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lowededwookie

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#55126 9-Dec-2006 22:12

The pay system that Txt-A-Park and no doubt the Woolworths etc system are very different to the Pago system. NO information is required by them for payment.

For example here's how the Txt-A-Park system works:

Machines have a number on them that might be something like 1234

Walk up to meter and press Txt-A-Park button

Create a new text message with the number of the machine and the amount you want:

12344 = $4 or 1 hour

12348 = $8 or 2 hours

Send text message to 7275

Once message has come through the machine will display how much you've paid for and you press the OK button and your ticket is sent through.

That's it, no details need to be given to anyone.

It is a completely different setup to the Pago system.

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#55133 10-Dec-2006 07:40

Pago want their system to become the defacto standard for micropayments. The problem is that concept has no future because realtime systems such as Txt A Park already exist. It's obviously in a mobile operators interests to be offering such a service and taking a small % cut. The big question is why this hasn't happened in NZ so far but I have been told several times recently to watch this space.

antoniosk

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#55137 10-Dec-2006 11:01

A few years ago the issue was how to treat and manage money.

When it's a prepaid purchase of airtime minutes, that's one thing. But now, the mobile operator is effectively acting as a bank, holding money for 'non-specific products', and under that the compliance rules go up. dramatically.

which also means the operator must behave better, keep better records and so on. That's an investment most are'nt willing to make - far better to spend the money on things like coverage, capacity, staff etc :-)

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sbiddle

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#55140 10-Dec-2006 12:13

But we are a very techo savvy country. Mobile phones could take a very significant chunk of the <$20 market very very quickly. Pago can see this but their approach is flawed.

Wellingon is a perfect example of a country where something like the Oyster Card used in the UK & Hong Kong would become huge overnight. You can now use this everywhere in Hong Kong to pay for goods because people always have it on them to catch public transport. Unfortunately it's something that have been talking about for 5+ years in Wellington and the speed the regional council works out we're probably 10 years away from such a system. Due to the large number of people who do catch public transport in Wellington opening the system up to a 3rd party for integration into POS systems would be a huge step forward.