News
VeriFone Launches Bluetooth Wireless Payment Device
VeriFone has launched a Bluetooth version of its Vx 670 handheld wireless payment unit.
VeriFone says Bluetooth connectivity is particularly useful for restaurants or smaller retailers which want the benefits of wireless payment without having to deal with Wi-Fi or cellular accounts.
Bluetooth is a standard which enables equipment such as cellphones, laptops and digital cameras to communicate with each other over a short-range wireless connection.
The new device, the Vx 670 Bluetooth, is designed for short-distance communications environments. The Vx 670 Bluetooth can be hooked up to a traditional landline telecoms connection through a wireless modem built into the VeriFone device’s communications station.
VeriFone says that the communications station is only discoverable for a brief period after power-on, while it is setting up a secure data link. Also, the Vx 670 Bluetooth is not discoverable by other Bluetooth devices, it says.
No transaction data is stored in the PCI PED-approved Vx 670 Bluetooth, and cardholders' PINs are never transmitted without additional encryption, VeriFone says.
According to VeriFone, the Vx 670 Bluetooth will be available at the end of October 2007. VeriFone already offers GPRS and Wi-Fi versions of the Vx 670.
"Vx 670 Bluetooth provides the option of utilizing wireless mobility and flexibility with landline telecommunications, which is still a very common form of payment authorization, or with broadband," Paul Rasori, VeriFone’s vice president of global product marketing, says.