Square competitor ShopKeep has a deal for new customers: Sign up now for our iPad-based in-store point-of-sale system and we’ll give you free equipment to handle Apple Pay, contactless, traditional magstripe and (eventually) EMV chip payment cards, Re/code reported on Monday (Dec. 15).
That free reader is Ingenico’s iCMP, a handheld card reader that communicates with the iPad through Bluetooth and includes a physical PIN pad. The 11,000 current ShopKeep customers can buy the device for $249 from the company.
ShopKeep also officially rolled out Apple Pay support on Monday to go along with the new reader. The latest update of the ShopKeep app, version 2.5.2, supports Apple Pay, contactless and magstripe cards.
The company also said it “will support” EMV chip cards sometime before the October 2015 “liability shift” deadline, after which merchants who can’t accept EMV chip cards will be liable for any fraudulent card purchases they accept. ShopKeep didn’t spell out when that will happen; some large banks are already issuing EMV cards, and several big retail chains are already committed to accepting the cards by the end of January 2015.
ShopKeep co-CEO Norm Merritt told Re/code that his merchants haven’t been demanding NFC equipment to accept Apple Pay, but he said he believes as mobile payment becomes more popular, more small businesses will want to accept it. Partnering with Ingenico also means ShopKeep can get an EMV reader into its customers’ hands before Square, which is taking preorders for a $29 device EMV-only card reader.
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