In addition to providing a solid story around the traction Poynt and its founder Osama Bedier is hoping to achieve with merchants in a competitive landscape. Poynt hopes to build on existing consumer behaviors merchants already have to shape their problem solving strategy.
Poynt has no intention of making money from the hardware, which Bedier said will be commoditized over time and face a long list of “copy cats.” Rather, the company is mimicking the consumer app store model and taking 20 percent of the revenue when a merchant buys a piece of software for the device.
Poynt’s bet is that technology buyers want the same type of experience at work that they have in their personal lives, and that apps are now the way we consume software.
It remains to be seen how early market penetration by a POS device with an un-established application ecosystems will upend the broader market. Digital wallet use is still in the early stages, and a large part of the use sits squarely with those programs indigenous to a particular merchant. Mercator Advisory Group Emerging Technology Service is taking a closer look at the single merchant mobile wallet segment later this month.
Overview by Joe Walent, Senior Analyst, Emerging Technologies Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group