The future of mobile credit card readers and NFC embedded phones is just around the corner, but in the mean time retailers can make use of their phones to perform picture perfect transactions. A new credit card iPhone app from AisleBuyer allows merchants the ability to process a payment simply by snapping a picture of the front of a credit card. This photo card capture technology uses proprietary optical character recognition (OCR) to discern the card number from the other information and background of the card.
Is taking a Picture of a Credit Card Dangerous?
AisleBuyer's system fights identification theft by discarding the credit card photo after the transaction without storing any image data on the phone or the AisleBuyer servers. However, as always, you should safeguard against credit card identification theft by never allowing your credit card number to fall into the wrong hands. While experts continue to debate the security of mobile credit card readers, the main advantage AisleBuyer has over mobile credit card processors like Square and VeriFone is that no other hardware is required beyond the smartphone. All a merchant needs is an account with a provider that uses AisleBuyer's technology. The merchant can then make a mobile transaction using the system, and when the purchase is completed they'll receive an email receipt for their records. In addition, the process takes just as long as a typical credit card transaction. More or less, this photo technology acts just like a card swiper without the extra equipment. It really isn't much different from existing smartphone applications that allow customers to deposit checks by photo submission. AisleBuyer's photo recognition technology might seem unique and gimmicky at first, but over time it should see a rise in adoption as mobile credit card readers become the standard in small business. Currently, AisleBuyer's technology is only active on iPhones, but it should be available on Androids very soon as well.
