Payment terminal

The terminal typically consists of a secure keypad (called a PINpad) for entering PIN, a screen, a means of capturing information from payments cards and a network connection to access the payment network for authorization.

The terminal allows the merchant or their client to swipe, insert or hold a card near the device to capture the information.

The majority of card terminals today transmit data over cellular network connections and Wi-Fi.

Wireless terminals transmit card data using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular,[2][promotional source?]

Prior to the development of payment terminals, merchants would capture card information manually using ZipZap machines.

[4] There have also been incidence of skimming at card terminals and this led to the move away from using the magnetic strip to instead capturing information using EMV standards.

This allowed card information to be captured electronically and led to the development of payment terminals.

Hungarian-born George Wallner in Sydney, Australia, founded rival Hypercom in 1978 and in 1982 started producing dedicated payment terminals.

In 1980, Jean-Jacques Poutrel and Michel Malhouitre established Ingenico in France and developed their first payment terminal in 1984.

[9] In most countries terminals are provided to merchants via a multitude of distributors that support and pre-configure devices to operate with local payment networks or financial institutions.

In case the necessary hardware is unavailable, these applications usually support manual entry of the card number and other data.