Accept payments on your mobile with ’Swipe HQ’

Kiwi tech company Optimizer HQ has announced an entry to the mobile payment market, unveiling a credit card acceptance terminal that can run from the headphone jack of a mobile device.

Using the terminal, dubbed SwipeHQ, the merchant simply enters the amount of the transaction, swipe the customer’s credit card, and pushes a button to set the transaction in motion.

An associated app connects to a secure banking environment under Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS); the device itself encrypted to the PCI 3.1 standard. Electronic receipts can be sent to the customer by email or text message.

The device itself will be free, with merchants to pay a per-transaction fee that is yet to be determined. Devices running on iOS, Android and Windows Phone will all be supported.

Optimiser HQ CEO Manas Kumar was inspired to create the product after being caught out trying to pay his lawn mower but having no cash.

"I talked to other friends who said they were often in the same position,” Kumar says, "so I created Swipe HQ.”

Kumar adds that the terminal could also be used in a retail setting, allowing staff to approach customers in store counter queues, or at restaurants, letting waiters and waitresses accept payments at diners’ tables.

Of course, this technology has been around a while, the most notable example being Square, created by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and introduced back in 2010.

Even so, the Swipe HQ offering will slot well into Optimizer HQ’s portfolio of business tools, which also includes the TextaHQ SMS marketing platform and the CometHQ self-service Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) assistant.

Swipe HQ is expected to hit the market around August. In the meantime, merchants can register their interest here.