The Transaction Telephone Part 2: Market related aspects Available to Purchase

The first part of this article, published in our September/October issue, looked at the way credit card automation — and in particular the transaction telephone — had developed. It discussed whether or not transaction telephones might in future be linked to the retailer's point of sale equipment so that credit authorisation might be completely integrated with the POS. It also looked at the potentiality of transaction telephones being used in conjunction with electronic funds transfer. A number of other possible uses were also examined. This second part is concerned with market related aspects, and at the influences exerted by the larger credit card companies, developing their automation facilities at point of sale, upon the smaller credit card companies.