Cantaloupe Systems Enables Apple Pay Acceptance On All Seed Cashless™ Installations At No Additional Cost
San Francisco, CA – September 23, 2014 – Cantaloupe Systems, the vending industry’s premier provider of cloud-based, mobile technologies that deliver an integrated end-to-end vending retail solution, today announced support for Apple Pay, the new contactless payment capability of Apple’s iPhone 6 smartphones. Apple Pay will be supported by all machines running Seed Cashless, the fastest growing card and mobile payments solution for vending. Accepting Apple Pay will require no hardware upgrade and no additional cost to vending operators utilizing Seed Cashless.
Apple Pay uses Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology to communicate securely with the Seed Cashless card reader. Leading Android mobile payment apps like Google Wallet and Softcard® also use NFC. Seed Cashless has always included NFC capability in every card reader, and Seed Cashless cloud services are optimized for mobile transactions. This means that Seed Cashless operators don’t have to worry about expensive upgrades to enable mobile payments. Instead, mobile payments will “just work” on Seed Cashless.
“Seed Cashless was born ready for mobile payments. We’ve always included Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology in every card reader because we predicted that the payments industry would eventually coalesce on NFC and we didn’t want our customers to get stuck with swipe-only hardware that would soon become obsolete. This decision was validated again when Apple chose to follow Google and others in using NFC,” said Anant Agrawal, CMO of Cantaloupe Systems. “Vending operators who want to accept mobile payments should demand NFC support from their cashless supplier. If there’s no NFC radio in the external card reader or built into the door of newer machines that have a swipe-only card reader, then an expensive upgrade will be needed. Using Seed Cashless ensures that these kinds of expensive upgrades are not needed.”
Although Seed Cashless supports a wide range of mobile payment options, Seed Cashless also accepts traditional magnetic stripe credit or debit cards. This flexibility ensures that consumers can gradually migrate from plastic to mobile at their own pace, and ensures that operators capture the maximum possible cashless sales during the gradual transition from card to mobile payments.
“Our job is to position vending operators for the future without missing out on what’s widely used right now. Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Softcard, and other mobile payment apps are going to be a big deal in the future. But today, almost all cashless payments come from swiped plastic cards,” noted Justin Grant, VP Product Management at Cantaloupe Systems. “This means that any successful cashless solution must accept card swipes too. We’re years away from a completely swipe-free vending customer base, but as the transition happens, Seed Cashless will help you be ready.”
To use Apple Pay, consumers will require an iPhone 6 device running a software update that Apple is planning to release in October 2014. Cantaloupe Systems expects operators to see significant payment volume from Apple Pay starting with the 2014 holiday season.
“When I heard that Seed Cashless supported Apple Pay, I was pleased but not surprised,” said Paul Tims, Owner of Imperial Companies, a Canteen Franchisee who operates thousands of Seed Cashless machines. “Cantaloupe Systems is always thinking ahead so that my operation will be prepared for the latest technology changes. For another example, look at 3G. Other suppliers told me I have to replace my devices with expensive 3G versions. Cantaloupe Systems was smarter about this; they lined up 2G support from multiple network carriers and even have the ability to switch mobile network carriers remotely if one goes down. Now I have 2G support until at least 2020 at no additional cost and no hardware upgrades. Just like having NFC in every reader saved me an expensive card reader upgrade to take advantage of Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Softcard, Cantaloupe’s forethought saved me a lot of money and avoided field labor too.”
About Cantaloupe Systems
Cantaloupe Systems is the vending industry’s premier provider of cloud-based, mobile technologies that deliver an integrated end-to-end vending retail solution for cashless vending, dynamic route scheduling, automated pre-kitting and merchandising and inventory management…all accessible by any mobile device. With a combined 100+ years vending experience, Cantaloupe Systems’ expert consultation team can help vending operators modernize their vending business resulting in increased revenue, greater route efficiencies and streamlined back office administration. Hundreds of customers, with hundreds of thousands machines connected, rely on Cantaloupe Systems’ innovative solutions to give them full control and visibility over their operations, their inventory and their people so they can more proactively, predictably and competitively run their business. Learn more about smarter vending at cantaloupesys.com.
Cantaloupe Systems is backed by Global Environment Fund of Chevy Chase, MD., and Foundation Capital of Menlo Park, CA.
