Apple Acquires Startup That Turns Smartphones into Payment Terminals

Apple has acquired the startup Mobeewave that could turn iPhones into payment terminals. The startup technology allows users to tap their credit card or smartphone to another mobile terminal/smartphone for professing the payment.

Mobeewave’s technology works entirely via an app and NFC for communication purposes and does not require any other specialized hardware. As per the report, Apple has paid about $100 million for Mobeewave. The entire team of Mobeewave is still going to be around and work from their office in Montreal.

Apple issued its typical statement about acquiring a startup that it usually does in such scenarios.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” an Apple spokesman said.

Interestingly, Samsung’s venture arm had invested in Mobeewave, with the company also using its technology inside its smartphones.

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Apple could use Mobeewave’s acquisition to further improve Apple Pay and expand its availability to more markets. It could also allow existing iPhone owners to start accepting payments from others using Apple Pay without any other modification or additional hardware. If Apple goes ahead with this scenario though, it would compete with Square that allows users to receive payments via their smartphone, though the latter’s services require users to get additional hardware.

[Via Bloomberg]

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