In a deal worth AU$1 million, Keycorp is providing its recently released K78 hand-held wireless terminal for point of sale (POS) transactions to EftNet, with banking backbone supplied by BankWest.
Combining an EFTPOS unit, CDPD modem and printer into a mobile EFTPOS terminal, the K78 fits onto the back of a GSM mobile phone, effectively extending the coverage of EFTPOS outside the existing data network, and into regions previously inaccessible to POS transactions.
-The partnership with EftNet and BankWest is an exciting advancement for mobile EFTPOS technology," said Keycorp CEO, Michael Thomas. -The K78 is compact, it introduces the most advanced capability available in the mobile EFTPOS market and is competitively priced." EftNet's managing director, Marc Abonnel, told PC Week Australia that the solution would cost in the vicinity of AU$20,000 for a single user, with pricing dropping for companies buying the terminals in bulk.
Abonnel said that he could not confirm which companies will be buying the terminals in bulk until after the pilot period is over. However, he did confirm that online grocer ShopFast is already using an older version of the hardware and could thus be a good candidate to upgrade to the K78 in the future.
Ron Silvestri, head of payment operations at Bank-West, said after two to three weeks in its pilot phase, it will move into a wholesale roll-out sometime in early May. He added that he was excited by the rollout as the K78 would be facilitating business-to-business transactions as well as regular consumer transactions.
According to Keycorp's product manager for the K78, Pat O'Brien, the company sees the market split into three categories: mobile traders (such as plumbers and electricians); traders who require -fixed portability" such as a Doctor's surgery; and the corporate market.
O'Brien added that an optional barcode scanner can turn the K78 into a unit capable of data captureââ,¬"as well as EFTPOSââ,¬"at around the same price as a dedicated data capture device.
