ANZ to introduce new POS device
(1 July 2016 – Australia) ANZ Bank has announced that it will be launching Blade, a point-of-sale device to compete with existing products, including Commonwealth Bank’s “Albert” and Square Reader.
The handheld product will be ‘slighlty bigger than a smart phone’ and based on Google’s Android platform and use the bank’s FastPay card reader. Other features include an in-built barcode scanner camera, and GPS.
Merchants will be able to run their own apps, which will first be vetted by the bank, and communicate with ANZ’s FastPay app to complete transactions.
Currently, Melbourne based fashion outlet, MRP is trialling the device, the bank said.
The bank’s Strategy and Innovations Manager Josh Peers said: “They wanted to change the way they service their customers. Rather than being behind the point-of-sale, they wanted to be out on the shop floor.
“We have worked with other customers who have people walk round with an iPad but it was too large, it was too heavy, they needed something that was easy to operate and it needed to be single handed,” he added.
The bank will vet and certify all apps developed for Blade, and they’ll be kept on its own app store.
“The vetting process will be important but we don’t want to make that completely complex because we believe in the security of the device and the fact that the payment portion is separated from the untrusted area,” said Peers.
According to the bank, ‘Blade’ will cost around 50 percent less than matching a card reader with an iPhone.
The bank has highlighted a number of different uses cases including insurance agents could use the device’s camera to take photo relating to an investigation, staff could be issued training and mobile workers could use the GPS to determine their next job.
“We haven’t even dreamed up half the uses of this thing and that’s why the API were going to give out to the development community to come up with their own,” added Chris Venter, ANZ general manager consumer digital technology.
The bank recently moved to strengthen its digital technology team, recruiting Google Australia’s chief, Maile Carnegie to fill the newly created group executive for digital banking position.
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