Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
The idea of turning a mobile phone into an credit card terminal might not be brand new, but Mint Wireless is certainly making its MiniMint system readily available to small business people.
Where do many small businesses go these days to for their technology-related purchases? If the SME owners I speak to are anything to go buy, Officeworks seems to be growing its share.
So it makes sense to me that MiniMint is now being sold at Officeworks.
MiniMint comprises software for various smartphones (including Nokia, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile models, but not iPhones) that allows them to act as credit card terminals, along with the back-end service that handles the transaction processing.
It can be used with an existing merchant account or with a new one set up by Mint.
The system is provided on a subscription basis, and costs $199 for 12 months, plus 99c per transaction (each subscription includes 20 transactions). The software can automatically add that fee to the customer's account if desired.
In the basic configuration, the user keys in the card number and sale amount, and selects the card type. The customer's signature can be collected electronically if the phone has a touchscreen. Either way, a receipt is automatically sent to the customer via email or SMS.
Alternatively, a palm-sized card reader and receipt printer is available for $399.
Small businesses benefit from improved cash flow as funds are transferred to their bank accounts on the same day. Administrative chores are also reduced as transaction records can be downloaded and imported to the user's accounting software.
"The MiniMint can help facilitate cash flow control by enabling secure and instantaneous transactions anywhere and anytime, meaning less time wasted chasing payments and more time spent earning revenue," said Sandy Young, business machines and technology buyer at Officeworks.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
How to Make Business Discovery Work for Your Business
Business Discovery takes its cues from consumer apps. Like Google, it encourages us- ers to hunt for and explore data without worrying about or even noticing the underly- ing technology. Their entire experience is working within an intuitive interface to get real-time, self-service results with only minimal training. ...more
Try an easy-to-use set of web-enabled
tools for business-class productivity services. Office 365 provides
anywhere-access to email, important documents, contacts, and calendars
on almost any device.
