ROAM Data Launches World's First Secure Low Cost Card Reader for BlackBerry

BOSTON, Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- ROAM Data launched today the world's first encrypted audio coupled card reader for BlackBerry® devices, which comprises approximately 30% of the smart phone market in the US.  ROAM enables the millions of merchants with BlackBerry devices to securely swipe customers' payment cards with reduced transaction fees by conveniently plugging-in ROAM's low cost reader into the audio jack - see video demo.  This unique swiper solution called ROAMpay Swipe is the latest in a series of mCommerce innovations brought to market by ROAM Data.  

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101130/NE08789 )

"Our goal is to bring the most convenient and secure ways for merchants to transact with their customers on virtually any computing devices," says Will Graylin, Founder and CEO of ROAM Data. "Our team of mobile and payment experts has consistently overcome major challenges to simplify complex problems for the market, making a secure audio reader work with BlackBerry is the latest achievement we are proud of."

ROAM Data won the 2010 Electronic Transactions Association's Technology Innovation Award earlier this year for its device agnostic mCommerce platform, and continues to be a clear frontrunner in bringing secure, affordable and convenient transactions to mobile merchants and consumers.  ROAM has created a patented mCommerce Application Platform called ROAM Rails that enable mobile apps to be written once and run on virtually any device - from smart phones, feature phones, tablets, PCs, MACs, and even traditional POS devices.  ROAM Rails solves the fundamental device complexity and fragmentation problem that has plagued the mobile app industry and is setting the standard for scalable mCommerce application delivery.  

One such scalable mCommerce app that runs on ROAM Rails is ROAMpay, a mobile merchants payment card acceptance app with unprecedented device coverage, transaction cost savings and security.  ROAMpay Swipe is the universal reader peripheral that plugs into the 3.5mm audio jack of most mobile devices and has built-in encryption, avoiding the serious security risks of skimming associated with similar looking competitive swipers that have no encryption. ROAM supports more devices for its apps and peripherals than any other provider in the industry, enabling support for many more end-users. Even before offering support for nearly 80% of the BlackBerry devices currently being sold in the market, ROAMpay Swipe had the most extensive device coverage of any reader on the market - including Apple products (iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4; iPad, iPod Touch), a wide variety of Android powered devices, PCs, Macs and netbooks.

"ROAM's continued commitment to bringing mobile payments, both keyed-entry and now card-present, to a growing segment of merchants, who traditionally have been underserved, shows how in-tune they are with the market and the trends in mobile payments," commented Chris Justice, president of Ingenico North America, "I'm really excited to see ROAM Data take the leadership position in setting a new industry standard for mobile payments that will bring tremendous benefits to all levels of merchants, across all industries. ROAM Data is Ingenico’s strategic business partner in the States for m-commerce and mobile payment solutions."

ROAM has proven its Rails with its own apps, and has now started to enable others to build their apps with ROAM's platform and peripherals.  

About ROAM Data

ROAM Data provides "Rails" for mCommerce applications, with its patented device agnostic platform that enable merchants to interact and transact with their customers on virtually any computing device - from iPhones, Androids and BlackBerry smartphones - to feature phones, tablets, PCs & even POS devices.   ROAM Rails are ideal for delivering these types of mCommerce apps: merchant apps in the physical commerce environment (such as turning merchant cell phones into POSs, or order entry devices) as well as consumer apps extending eCommerce to mobile (such as mobile shopping, mobile ads & coupons, etc.).   ROAM Rails include the ROAM IDE – a development environment to build Apps that can integrate with existing legacy systems; various ROAMplayers – virtual machines that play ROAM Apps across different devices, which can interact with device peripherals (including voice to text, mag stripe, blue tooth, and NFC in the future); the ROAM Payment Gateway - a Level One PCI-DSS certified gateway that securely integrates various payment methods based on customer needs; and ROAM App Server (RAS) that hosts and runs the various Apps for end-users; an App Provisioning Management System for ease of deploying and maintaining apps across different devices for different end-users; ROAMpay Swipe – a low cost secure card reader that fit most devices through an audio jack and ROAM API – a set of interfaces for developers to monetize their own apps by leveraging ROAM Rails and ROAM peripherals.  ROAM is setting the standard for scalable mCommerce application delivery.   Visit us at www.roamdata.com

About Ingenico (Euronext: FR0000125346 – ING)

Ingenico is a leading provider of payment solutions, with over 15 million terminals deployed in more than 125 countries. Its 3,000 employees worldwide support retailers, banks and service providers to optimize and secure their electronic payments solutions, develop their offer of services and increase their point of sales revenue. More information on www.ingenico.com.

SOURCE ROAM Data