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The rise of Mobile POS
Contents 
1. Key messages 3 
2. Introduction 4 
3. mPOS in Context 5 
• mPOS overview 
• SMEs form the initial market 
• SME transaction volumes are variable 
• Growing competition 
• Commoditization of the POS market 
• Payment related services as a route to differentiation 
4. Evolution of mPOS 9 
• mPOS payment related services 
• mPOS is being embraced by larger merchants 
• mPOS will expand beyond retail 
• VAS would need high degree of customization 
5. The mPOS Ecosystem 
• Merchants 
• Banks 
• Mobile operators 
13 
6. Recommendations 14 
• Merchants 
• Banks 
• Mobile operators 
The rise of Mobile POS 2
Key messages 
Basic mPOS-enabling hardware is now a commodity, and the key to revenue growth and 
differentiation lies in mPOS value-added services (VAS). mPOS service providers need to take a 
more sophisticated, innovative approach to VASs, abandon the “one size fits all” approach, and 
instead develop applications that better match the needs of specific verticals. 
There is increasing interest in the potential for mPOS in emerging markets, and we can expect to 
see an acceleration of mPOS activity as service providers seek to gain first-mover advantage in 
the more mPOS-ready emerging markets. Characteristics to look out for include growing smart-phone 
penetration, a large base of SMEs and micro-merchants, low penetration of traditional 
POS terminals, a core base of card users that is expanding, and bank and government schemes 
to encourage card adoption. 
Mobile operators with existing mobile payments businesses will need to take a position on mPOS 
and determine how they can participate in the ecosystem. Although mPOS will not be a core 
m-payment revenue stream for operators, it could provide some incremental benefits via distribu-tion 
partnerships or the provision of bundled services. 
Banks are coming late to the mPOS market, they are nonetheless in a good position to offer 
mPOS services. Bank acquirers have advantages due to their strong merchant base and their 
expertise and long experience in supporting merchant needs. 
The rise of Mobile POS 3
Introduction 
Mobile point of sale (mPOS) has introduced a 
new dynamic into the mobile proximity 
payments market. Between 2010 and 2011, 
approximately 1.2 million mPOS solutions were 
shipped to MasterCard merchants globally; and 
75% of those merchants had not previously 
been able to accept card payments. 
This early mPOS growth was driven by adoption 
among micro-merchants and while still an 
important segment, there are further opportu-nities 
for mPOS with larger merchants as well. 
mPOS allows larger merchants to create 
efficiencies and enhance the in-store shopping 
experience for consumers, as well as to equip 
their field salesforce with an integrated 
payment capability. Another benefit to all 
merchants, big or small, is the ability of mPOS 
solutions to gather customer data. 
Although growth in mPOS has predominantly 
been in mature markets, there are several 
opportunities for mPOS in emerging markets 
that typically have a very large base of small 
merchants, and where there is low or limited 
penetration of traditional POS terminals. 
However, the mPOS opportunity in emerging 
markets will be dependent on a core base of 
card users and where consumer demand for 
cards is increasing, as is the case in India and 
China. We expect to see an acceleration of 
mPOS activity in the more mPOS-ready emerg-ing 
markets, as service providers seek to gain 
first-mover advantage. 
We also expect the consumer-facing mobile 
commerce and merchant-acceptance ecosys-tems 
to converge going forward. Merchant 
participation is a critical component of any 
consumer-facing mobile payment service, while 
on the mPOS side service providers are putting 
increasing emphasis on consumer-facing appli-cations. 
Who will lead this convergence is not 
yet certain, although it is likely to be those 
service providers that have a well integrated 
consumer-facing and merchant acceptance 
offering. 
The rapid growth of the mPOS market in terms 
of the number of players and services is 
producing a highly competitive market where 
many solution providers are struggling to 
achieve meaningful differentiation. mPOS hard-ware 
is already a commodity proposition, while 
mPOS value-added services (VAS) are increas-ingly 
being used for differentiation. The tradi-tional 
micro-merchant target market for mPOS 
might be growing in terms of the number of 
people/firms, but it is characterized by low, 
unpredictable transaction values. In order to 
grow their businesses, mPOS solution provid-ers 
will need to achieve scale. But this means 
expanding beyond the core micro-merchant 
base into larger merchants, where mPOS 
service providers will have to compete with 
traditional point-of-sale (POS) vendors. This 
would be challenging, particularly for smaller 
mPOS vendors without a well-defined value-added 
service offering. 
The rise of Mobile POS 4
mPOS in Context 
mPOS overview 
Providers of mPOS services supply solutions 
directly to merchants, or on a partnership or 
white-label basis to third parties that service 
merchants (primarily banks and, in a few rare 
cases, mobile operators). 
mPOS solutions allow merchants to accept 
credit and debit card payments or even 
proprietary payments schemes like mobile 
money from mobile devices, where the 
payment is initiated from, and executed on a 
mobile device belonging to the merchant. 
This is in contrast to consumer-facing mobile 
proximity payment services that are initiated 
by consumers from their own devices, and 
which are increasingly offered as part of a 
digital wallet service. 
An mPOS solution basically consists of a 
card-reader hardware accessory and an 
associated mPOS application that manages 
the transaction. The merchant uses their 
card-reader-enabled mobile device to take a 
consumer’s card details. In the US and a few 
other markets card readers support mag-netic 
swipe cards, while in the India and 
elsewhere card readers must support the 
prevailing EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and 
Visa) standard chip and PIN cards. The card 
data and transaction details are encrypted 
and sent over a wireless network for authen-tication 
and authorization, and once this has 
been processed the consumer is sent a 
digital receipt or provided with a paper 
version via a linked printer. 
mPOS solutions are characterized by very 
low-cost hardware compared to traditional 
card processing equipment. For example, 
mPOS dongles can cost as little as $10 and 
are frequently given away for free, although 
standalone EMV units can be more expensive 
(in the $50 to $100 price range). The first 
iterations of mPOS card-readers hardware 
took the form of a small dongle designed to 
attach directly to smartphones and tablets. 
These are still extremely popular but have 
been joined by standalone card reader units. 
The enabling technology for mPOS is typically 
Bluetooth and audio jack and with Wi-Fi or 
GPRS used as the transmission channel. 
mPOS solutions should be able to process all 
type of instruments like magstripe, contact 
and contactless including NFC as well as 
scan QR codes and barcodes etc. to enable 
payment processing. 
The rise of Mobile POS 5
SMEs form the initial market 
SMEs are the key target for mPOS solutions, 
especially the micro-merchant segment of 
businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The 
SME sector is large and growing in terms of the 
number of companies and employees, and 
within this sector micro-merchants account for 
the largest portion of the base. 
Data from the US Census Bureau from 2008 
(the latest available) reported that there were a 
total of 5.91 million SMEs in the US. Of those, 
3.61 million had between one and four employ-ees, 
while 1.04 million had between five and 
nine employees (see Table 1 for further 
details). We expect that by 2014 the base of 
US SMEs, including the micro-merchant 
segment, will have experienced further growth. 
The SME and micro-merchant segment is 
equally robust in Europe. The EC’s 2011/12 
annual report on SMEs in the EU found there 
were 20.70 million such firms, of which the 
lion’s share (19.14 million, or 92.2%) were 
firms with fewer than 10 employees. The 
20.70 million SMEs cited by the EC employed 
more than 87 million people (see Table 2 for 
further details). 
The proportion of micro-merchants and SMEs 
in many emerging markets is very high, and 
eclipses the number of large enterprises. In 
Brazil, 99.7% of companies are SMEs and 
micro-merchants, according to mPOS provider 
iZettle, which has launched in Brazil in partner-ship 
Banco Santander. Likewise, in India there 
are 1.5 million SMBs contributing between 
15% and 20% to GDP (see Table 3). 
Table 1: US SME and micro-merchant data 
Employment size of enterprise Firms Paid employees Annual payroll 
Firms with one to four employees (or with no employees as of March 2012) 
Firms with five to nine employees 
Firms with 10–19 employees 
Firms with 20–99 employees 
Firms with 100–499 employees 
3,617,764 
1,044,065 
633,141 
526,307 
90,386 
6,086,291 
6,878,051 
8,497,391 
20,684,691 
17,547,567 
($1,000) 
$232,062,907 
$222,504,912 
$293,534,352 
$774,589,335 
$706,476,693 
Source: US Census Bureau, Ovum 
Table 2: EU SME and micro-merchant data 
Micro 
merchants 
Enterprise Small Medium SMEs Large Total 
Number 
Employment 
19,143,521 
38,395,819 
1,357,533 
26,771,287 
226,573 
22,310,205 
(total) 
20,727,627 
87,477,311 
43,654 
42,318,854 
20,771,281 
129,796,165 
Source: Eurostat, national statistics offices of member states, Cambridge Econometrics 
The rise of Mobile POS 6
Table 3: India SME and micro-merchant data 
Enterprise Micro merchants Small Medium SMEs (total) Total 
Number 
Employment 
14,850, 000 
6, 534,000 
760,000 
2, 343,000 
SME transaction volumes are variable 
The SME base is large but the transaction values 
generated by micro-merchants and small 
businesses can be unpredictable and low 
compared to larger merchants. Micro-merchants 
typically process low-value transactions, or higher 
value transactions on an infrequent basis. There 
can also be risks associated with the high attrition 
that can characterize the micro-merchant 
segment (many micro-businesses disappear as 
quickly as they appear). The variable nature of 
SME transaction volumes is a key reason why so 
many mPOS providers are trying to gain traction 
with larger enterprises. 
Growing competition 
The number of mPOS providers and services is 
growing rapidly – there are now well over 100 
globally, and more will follow. mPOS hardware is 
already a commodity and some service providers 
are attempting to compete on price by driving 
down processing fees, but this a short-term tactic 
rather than a long-term fix. 
Something will have to give, and the most vulner-able 
mPOS providers will be those with basic 
solutions that are reliant wholly on 
30,000 
434.000 
20,727,627 
87,477,311 
15,54,000 
93,000,000 
Source: Ministry of Small and Micro Medium Enterprises India 
micro-merchants, a base characterized by low, 
unpredictable transaction values or those without 
the backing of a trusted brand like a bank. In order 
to grow their businesses, mPOS solution provid-ers 
will need to achieve scale. They will have to 
expand beyond the core micro-merchant base 
into larger enterprises, where they will have to 
compete with traditional POS vendors, many of 
which are powerful, resource-rich companies. 
This will be difficult for smaller mPOS service 
providers in particular. 
Commoditization of the POS market 
The commoditization of basic mPOS is prompting 
solution providers to compete on price by driving 
down the transaction processing fees they 
charge merchants. In July 2013 PayPal launched 
a headline-grabbing “Cash for Registers” scheme 
in the US, whereby for a promotional period it 
waived fees on transactions up to a certain level in 
order to encourage merchants to adopt its 
PayPal Here tablet-based mPOS solution. It was a 
bold move from PayPal, but unlike most mPOS 
providers, it can afford it. PayPal is large 
company, and its financial resources allow it to 
absorb the cost with minimal impact on its 
business. For the vast majority of mPOS 
The rise of Mobile POS 7
providers, competing on price should be viewed 
only as a short-term tactic – anything more than 
this is unsustainable, particularly for smaller 
mPOS players. 
Payment related services as a route to 
differentiation 
In this context, mPOS VAS become essential 
from both the monetization and differentiation 
perspectives. A few forward-thinking mPOS 
solution providers such as Comviva made 
specialist VAS their unique selling points from 
the start in the belief that mPOS service provid-ers 
should focus on leveraging the mobility 
advantage of mPOS to cater to merchant 
advantage of mPOS to cater to merchant 
business needs. This could mean enabling the 
overall buying and stocking life cycle or enabling 
how they reach out to their customers and 
conduct commerce. This will help them deliver 
higher value to merchants and hence become 
more efficient, thereby providing a differenti-ated 
offering to merchants. An associated 
trend is the provision of integration services for 
larger merchants looking to implement mPOS 
alongside existing POS systems. 
The rise of Mobile POS 8
Evolution of mPOS 
The mPOS market has developed rapidly over 
the past four years, as Figure 1 highlights. The 
commodity nature of mPOS hardware means 
that service providers have to compete and 
differentiate on the strength of their VAS. But 
mPOS VAS are becoming increasingly uniform 
across service providers; as soon as one 
service provider innovates, others follow. 
Providers of mPOS services must have 
well-defined road maps for service develop-ment. 
This means that if certain features are 
not required immediately or by all merchants, 
mPOS providers need to be able to vary those 
features and enhance their VAS portfolios. 
mPOS - an overview 
Smartphone 
Card reader 
dongles. 
Basic, horizontal 
VAS - e.g. 
Invoicing, 
Inventory 
control 
Card reader 
from factors 
diversify, 
cradles, 
dedicated units 
mPOS VAS 
expands: 
consumer 
facing 
apps, specialist / 
vertical apps, 
increased range 
of back office 
VAS 
Table based 
mPOS takes 
off, gains 
traction with 
larger 
merchants 
Consumer facing 
mCommerce 
mPOS start to 
converge, 
e.g. Square Register 
& Square Wallet 
More mPOS provides offer system 
integration & consultancy with larger 
merchants in mind 
Introduction of EMV compliant 
solutions helps drive growth in Europe 
Flexible, competitive merchant 
fee structures proliferate 
Few early mover exceptions have 
sophisticated, specialist VAS, e.g. Intuit 
The rise of Mobile POS 9 
Bredth & functionality 
2010 Service evolution 2014
mPOS payment related services 
The range of potential mPOS payment related 
services can be clustered around the following 
core service categories 
Back-office services: 
Applications that support the operational 
processes and administrative needs of 
merchants’ businesses. 
Consumer services: 
Front-of-house, consumer-facing services 
geared toward customer-relationship market-ing, 
customer support, and, more generally, 
applications that enhance customer engage-ment. 
Professional services: 
Specialist services that help merchants 
navigate, plan, implement, integrate, and maxi-mize 
mPOS technology and solutions. This can 
also extend to managed services. 
mPOS is being embraced by larger 
merchants 
A growing number of medium-sized and even 
some large merchants are starting to take note 
of mPOS, with early adopters having rolled out 
tablet-based mPOS implementations as a comple-ment 
to traditional POS or, in a few cases, as a 
replacement for cash registers. Starbucks, Nord-strom, 
JCPenney, Gap, Home Depot, and 
mPOS VAS types 
Bank-office services 
- Accounting 
- Banking Services 
- Stock and inventory management 
- Ordering and invoice creation 
- Data analytics 
Consumer services 
- Customer-loyalty programs, 
coupons,and offers 
- Customer receipts 
- Order taking 
- Stock checks 
- Product discovery 
- Location and navigation services 
- Social shopping apps 
Professional services 
- Consulting 
- System design 
- Systems integration 
- Security 
- Device/infrastructure management 
and maintenance 
- Managed services 
Sephora are all using or experimenting with 
mPOS alongside traditional POS, integrating 
mPOS platforms into existing payment systems. 
ICICI Prudential in India is working with Comviva to 
equip its agents with the capability to issue new 
policies at the customer's doorstep, including the 
ability to scan and upload documents for "know 
your customer" and policy payments. The interna-tional 
fashion chain Urban Outfitters has gone a 
step further: it has replaced cash registers with 
The rise of Mobile POS 10
iPad-based mPOS solutions in selected US stores, and has plans for a wider rollout. Some large FMCG 
companies are also considering mPOS to complement their direct to consumer initiatives. 
For larger merchants, 
mPOS solutions offer 
value-added features 
and benefits not 
available when using 
traditional POS 
Queue busting – mPOS can be particularly valuable during peak shopping hours 
(lunchtimes and after work) and peak periods such as seasonal holidays, when retail-ers 
can supplement their fixed POS with mPOS. 
Fast inventory checks – it can be used to help customers find desired items. 
Space saving – if mPOS is used as a POS replacement, it frees up valuable store 
space for other uses. 
Promoting greater customer interaction generally. 
Enabling associated marketing services. For example, mPOS can be used to encour-age 
Allowing merchants to reach out to their customers more effectively e.g. an insur-ance 
customer using a tablet and a dongle. 
Sophisticated services like analytics that can sift through payment transactions and 
make recommendations to merchants on issues such as optimal inventory, ordering 
cycle or even make recommendations to customers based on previous buying 
patterns and preferences. 
Integration with merchant's existing IT and CRM systems like loyalty, inventory to 
seamlessly integrate with existing business processes. 
Use of technology like BLE (Bluetooth low energy) and location-based services to help 
provide real-time accurate information to consumers about store layout, or location 
of articles. 
mPOS will expand beyond retail 
pre- and post-sale shopping activities through discounts and reward schemes. 
agent being able to complete a policy sale in a single visit to the doorstep of a 
The retail sector has been the prime target for 
mPOS, but there are many other merchant 
segments and organizations that mPOS can 
address. Basically, any business or organization 
that would benefit from its staff being able to 
process card payments while mobile is a potential 
candidate for mPOS. This could also include large 
enterprises and public service organizations that 
at the moment are not typically viewed as mPOS 
candidates, from everyday scenarios such as 
police services that issue on the spot fines, to a 
stem cell banking company signing up customers 
at their home or local clinic. 
The rise of Mobile POS 11
mPOS could also be used at sporting and other 
events in fixed venues to prevent queues and take 
payments at additional, flexible locations. Essel- 
World, one of India's premier entertainment 
destinations, is experimenting with mPOS to allow 
customers to buy entry tickets at a venue's car 
park or while they are travelling on a bus to an 
event. mPOS could be used in a similar fashion at 
conferences and conventions, and also at events 
such as outdoor concerts and festivals that take 
place at temporary locations. 
VAS would need high degree of 
customization 
At the moment there is a tendency to adopt a 
one-size-fits-all approach to merchant solutions. 
Although merchants have certain common 
requirements (e.g. inventory and sales manage-ment), 
this top-down approach is out of step with 
the fact that merchants’ needs differ depending 
on the verticals they serve – small coffee shops’ 
requirements will be different from those of lone 
traders, which will be different from those of high 
street chains. Given the diversity of the merchant 
base, the underlying platform should be highly 
customizable to meet requirements of specific 
industry verticals. 
The rise of Mobile POS 12
The mPOS Ecosystem 
Merchants 
Most mPOS solutions have experienced strong 
growth among micro-merchants, and for good 
reason. Most micro-merchants operate on a 
cash or check-only basis out of necessity 
rather than desire, because they cannot afford 
the high costs associated with traditional 
card-processing equipment, processing fees, 
and maintenance. Adopting mPOS provides 
them with a low-cost solution and flexible 
pricing models that make credit card accep-tance 
feasible where previously it was not. At 
the same time, mPOS also provides opportuni-ties 
for larger retailers to create efficiencies 
and enhance the in-store shopping experience 
for consumers. 
Banks 
Merchant acquiring banks have often been 
reluctant to take on micro-merchants because 
of their unpredictable transaction volumes, the 
risks associated with underwriting very small 
businesses, and the cost and lengthy payback 
period related to installing payment card 
processing terminals. 
However, the much lower cost of mPOS 
solutions means that acquiring banks can 
now build the business cases they need to 
facilitate credit card acceptance among 
micro-merchants, opening up new opportuni-ties 
in this market. Banks are also in a strong 
position to cross-sell mPOS solutions to 
larger merchants with which they have 
strong, trusted relationship. 
Mobile operators 
Mobile operators are pushing consumer-facing 
digital wallet services in a bid to drive new 
revenues, but so far few have embraced 
merchant-facing mPOS solutions. This is 
because operators have very limited merchant 
experience, while at the same time most 
operators believe there is more value in 
consumer-facing digital wallets rather than in 
mPOS. 
However, there are opportunities for mobile 
operators in the mPOS market. The most 
straight forward tactic is for operators to act 
as distributors for mPOS hardware, offering it 
as a way to add value to an existing portfolio of 
financial services. An example of this approach 
is AT&T’s retail partnership with Square, 
whereby it sells Square Card Readers in more 
than 1,000 stores, offering a rebate on the 
dongle to merchants that sign up. There are 
additional higher value options for operators, 
which are put forward in the Recommenda-tions 
section of this whitepaper. 
. 
The rise of Mobile POS 13
Recommendations 
Merchants 
mPOS is a young, fast growing market with 
multiple players, many of them start-ups, which 
from a merchant perspective makes selecting 
the right partner particularly challenging. We 
advise merchants to favor mPOS solution 
providers with the following characteristics: 
mPOS solution providers that have a 
well-defined portfolio and road map for 
value-added services (this includes support 
for horizontal payment related services 
solutions required by all merchants such as 
inventory control, mobile marketing applica-tions) 
and VAS tailored for the needs and 
requirements for specific industry verticals. 
Data analytic capabilities. A key benefit of 
mPOS is its ability to capture customer 
data, a capability lacking in traditional POS 
equipment. Customer insights are invaluable 
to small merchants that cannot compete 
with the wealth of customer data that larger 
online merchants are able to gather, 
particularly global online players like 
Amazon. 
mPOS solutions providers that support 
tablet-based solutions. These are starting to 
be used by larger merchants as a comple-ment 
to existing POS, or in some cases as a 
replacement. 
mPOS solution providers that have strong 
service partnerships which benefit 
merchants - for example, PayPal Here 
comes with pre-integrated partner solutions 
including ShopKeep, Vend, and Erply. Associ-ated 
with this, mPOS solution providers 
should offer open APIs to support integra-tion 
with third-party applications. 
Larger merchants and other organizations 
in particular will need partners that have the 
ability to integrate mPOS solutions with 
existing front-office and back-office systems. 
There can be an assumption that payment 
related services are of most importance in 
attracting larger retailers to mPOS. While 
this group does increasingly expect innova-tive 
services, it is a mistake to think that the 
traditional micro-merchant base does not 
have an appetite for sophisticated payment 
related services. If anything, the need for 
VAS is more acute in the micro-merchant 
segment, where it can play a key role in 
building their core business. 
mPOS solution providers that have experi-ence 
and expertise in secure payment 
systems should be favored, as even minor 
security flaws have the potential to shake 
merchant and consumer confidence in this 
new technology. 
Merchants should have the flexibility to be 
able to subscribe to custom VAS bundles, 
selecting applications such as loyalty 
programs, or catalog management. 
The rise of Mobile POS 14
Support for SDK development environment 
is desired as it accelerates creation of 
custom applications (IPOS) to meet distinct 
requirements of merchant categories or 
individual merchants. 
For large merchants using mPOS as a 
complement to existing POS solutions, 
prebuilt-connectors facilitate integration 
with critical backend IT systems used for 
CRM, inventory, billing and loyalty – allowing 
merchants to better manage their business. 
Support for mPOS APIs is also desirable as 
it gives merchants an option to embed card 
acceptance functionality within existing 
payment applications, saving time and 
money. 
Banks 
Most banks are arriving late to the mPOS 
market and need to move quickly, but they also 
need to consider very carefully the models they 
use. The easiest route is for banks to partner 
with an established mPOS product provider 
and focus on merchant acquiring and servicing 
rather than on technology. An alternative is for 
banks to source and provide their own mPOS 
solutions. A white-label product like payPLUS 
from Mahindra Comviva is lower risk and 
affords greater speed to market than a 
scenario where a bank tries to develop its own 
mPOS in-house. 
Launching a bank own-brand mPOS service is 
clearly the most challenging strategy. It 
requires banks to re-engineer their merchant 
sign-up process and risk-management models 
(merchant onboarding) to suit the require-ments 
and constraints of micro-merchants. 
This is a major undertaking, and the effort 
required should not be underestimated. The 
merchant onboarding process established by 
mPOS providers has set a new benchmark and 
is very different from the processes used by 
banks for the larger merchants they typically 
target. 
Mobile operators 
The most straightforward way for operators to 
participate in the mPOS value chain is by acting 
as distributors for basic mPOS hardware, but 
there are higher value opportunities available. A 
more strategic approach is for operators to 
offer mPOS as part of a service bundle, for 
example a package comprising a smartphone, 
dongle and data plan. 
Operators could build on this by offering more 
sophisticated cloud-based VAS such as account-ing 
software or analytics as part of the package, 
or integrating mPOS with their existing enter-prise 
solutions. They could also add tablets into 
the mix. This sort of “out of the box” proposition 
would appeal to both micro-merchants and 
larger enterprises. AT&T has taken a step in this 
direction by offering GlobalBay’s mPOS solution 
to SMEs. In the UK O2 is doing something 
similar, offering an mPOS solution in partnership 
with Visa Europe and Global Payments. 
The rise of Mobile POS 15
Appendix 
This white paper was researched, authored and produced by Ovum in association with 
Mahindra Comviva, as part of a series of papers assessing the current state and future 
market direction of mobile broadband services for mobile operators. 
About Mahindra Comviva 
Mahindra Comviva is the global leader in providing mobility solutions. It is a subsidiary of 
Tech Mahindra and a part of the USD 16.7 billion Mahindra Group. With an extensive port-folio 
spanning mobile finance, content, infotainment, messaging and mobile data solutions, 
Mahindra Comviva enables service providers to enhance customer experience, rationalize 
costs and accelerate revenue growth. Its mobility solutions are deployed by 130 mobile 
service providers and financial institutions in 90 plus countries, transforming the lives of 
over a billion people across the world. For more information, please visit 
www.mahindracomviva.com. 
Ovum Consulting 
Ovum has an enviable and hard-earned reputation as a provider of telecoms consult-ing 
services. Our consulting customers tell us that, above all else, it is Ovum's industry 
knowledge and at tention to detail that puts us ahead of our competitors. This is 
directly related to the expertise of our consultants and analysts, and the project and 
research methodologies we use. We work across the globe with business leaders of 
telecoms operators, service providers and ICT vendors and with investment banks, 
governments and industry regulators. We hope that this analysis will help you make 
informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, 
Ovum’s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum’s 
consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at consulting@ovum.com. 
Disclaimer 
All Rights Reserved. 
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, 
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Ovum (an Informa business). 
The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings, 
conclusions, and recommendations that Ovum delivers will be based on information gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary 
sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such Ovum can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based 
on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect.

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The rise of mobile point-of-sale (mPOS): Key opportunities and challenges for merchants, banks and mobile operators

  • 1. The rise of Mobile POS
  • 2. Contents 1. Key messages 3 2. Introduction 4 3. mPOS in Context 5 • mPOS overview • SMEs form the initial market • SME transaction volumes are variable • Growing competition • Commoditization of the POS market • Payment related services as a route to differentiation 4. Evolution of mPOS 9 • mPOS payment related services • mPOS is being embraced by larger merchants • mPOS will expand beyond retail • VAS would need high degree of customization 5. The mPOS Ecosystem • Merchants • Banks • Mobile operators 13 6. Recommendations 14 • Merchants • Banks • Mobile operators The rise of Mobile POS 2
  • 3. Key messages Basic mPOS-enabling hardware is now a commodity, and the key to revenue growth and differentiation lies in mPOS value-added services (VAS). mPOS service providers need to take a more sophisticated, innovative approach to VASs, abandon the “one size fits all” approach, and instead develop applications that better match the needs of specific verticals. There is increasing interest in the potential for mPOS in emerging markets, and we can expect to see an acceleration of mPOS activity as service providers seek to gain first-mover advantage in the more mPOS-ready emerging markets. Characteristics to look out for include growing smart-phone penetration, a large base of SMEs and micro-merchants, low penetration of traditional POS terminals, a core base of card users that is expanding, and bank and government schemes to encourage card adoption. Mobile operators with existing mobile payments businesses will need to take a position on mPOS and determine how they can participate in the ecosystem. Although mPOS will not be a core m-payment revenue stream for operators, it could provide some incremental benefits via distribu-tion partnerships or the provision of bundled services. Banks are coming late to the mPOS market, they are nonetheless in a good position to offer mPOS services. Bank acquirers have advantages due to their strong merchant base and their expertise and long experience in supporting merchant needs. The rise of Mobile POS 3
  • 4. Introduction Mobile point of sale (mPOS) has introduced a new dynamic into the mobile proximity payments market. Between 2010 and 2011, approximately 1.2 million mPOS solutions were shipped to MasterCard merchants globally; and 75% of those merchants had not previously been able to accept card payments. This early mPOS growth was driven by adoption among micro-merchants and while still an important segment, there are further opportu-nities for mPOS with larger merchants as well. mPOS allows larger merchants to create efficiencies and enhance the in-store shopping experience for consumers, as well as to equip their field salesforce with an integrated payment capability. Another benefit to all merchants, big or small, is the ability of mPOS solutions to gather customer data. Although growth in mPOS has predominantly been in mature markets, there are several opportunities for mPOS in emerging markets that typically have a very large base of small merchants, and where there is low or limited penetration of traditional POS terminals. However, the mPOS opportunity in emerging markets will be dependent on a core base of card users and where consumer demand for cards is increasing, as is the case in India and China. We expect to see an acceleration of mPOS activity in the more mPOS-ready emerg-ing markets, as service providers seek to gain first-mover advantage. We also expect the consumer-facing mobile commerce and merchant-acceptance ecosys-tems to converge going forward. Merchant participation is a critical component of any consumer-facing mobile payment service, while on the mPOS side service providers are putting increasing emphasis on consumer-facing appli-cations. Who will lead this convergence is not yet certain, although it is likely to be those service providers that have a well integrated consumer-facing and merchant acceptance offering. The rapid growth of the mPOS market in terms of the number of players and services is producing a highly competitive market where many solution providers are struggling to achieve meaningful differentiation. mPOS hard-ware is already a commodity proposition, while mPOS value-added services (VAS) are increas-ingly being used for differentiation. The tradi-tional micro-merchant target market for mPOS might be growing in terms of the number of people/firms, but it is characterized by low, unpredictable transaction values. In order to grow their businesses, mPOS solution provid-ers will need to achieve scale. But this means expanding beyond the core micro-merchant base into larger merchants, where mPOS service providers will have to compete with traditional point-of-sale (POS) vendors. This would be challenging, particularly for smaller mPOS vendors without a well-defined value-added service offering. The rise of Mobile POS 4
  • 5. mPOS in Context mPOS overview Providers of mPOS services supply solutions directly to merchants, or on a partnership or white-label basis to third parties that service merchants (primarily banks and, in a few rare cases, mobile operators). mPOS solutions allow merchants to accept credit and debit card payments or even proprietary payments schemes like mobile money from mobile devices, where the payment is initiated from, and executed on a mobile device belonging to the merchant. This is in contrast to consumer-facing mobile proximity payment services that are initiated by consumers from their own devices, and which are increasingly offered as part of a digital wallet service. An mPOS solution basically consists of a card-reader hardware accessory and an associated mPOS application that manages the transaction. The merchant uses their card-reader-enabled mobile device to take a consumer’s card details. In the US and a few other markets card readers support mag-netic swipe cards, while in the India and elsewhere card readers must support the prevailing EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) standard chip and PIN cards. The card data and transaction details are encrypted and sent over a wireless network for authen-tication and authorization, and once this has been processed the consumer is sent a digital receipt or provided with a paper version via a linked printer. mPOS solutions are characterized by very low-cost hardware compared to traditional card processing equipment. For example, mPOS dongles can cost as little as $10 and are frequently given away for free, although standalone EMV units can be more expensive (in the $50 to $100 price range). The first iterations of mPOS card-readers hardware took the form of a small dongle designed to attach directly to smartphones and tablets. These are still extremely popular but have been joined by standalone card reader units. The enabling technology for mPOS is typically Bluetooth and audio jack and with Wi-Fi or GPRS used as the transmission channel. mPOS solutions should be able to process all type of instruments like magstripe, contact and contactless including NFC as well as scan QR codes and barcodes etc. to enable payment processing. The rise of Mobile POS 5
  • 6. SMEs form the initial market SMEs are the key target for mPOS solutions, especially the micro-merchant segment of businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The SME sector is large and growing in terms of the number of companies and employees, and within this sector micro-merchants account for the largest portion of the base. Data from the US Census Bureau from 2008 (the latest available) reported that there were a total of 5.91 million SMEs in the US. Of those, 3.61 million had between one and four employ-ees, while 1.04 million had between five and nine employees (see Table 1 for further details). We expect that by 2014 the base of US SMEs, including the micro-merchant segment, will have experienced further growth. The SME and micro-merchant segment is equally robust in Europe. The EC’s 2011/12 annual report on SMEs in the EU found there were 20.70 million such firms, of which the lion’s share (19.14 million, or 92.2%) were firms with fewer than 10 employees. The 20.70 million SMEs cited by the EC employed more than 87 million people (see Table 2 for further details). The proportion of micro-merchants and SMEs in many emerging markets is very high, and eclipses the number of large enterprises. In Brazil, 99.7% of companies are SMEs and micro-merchants, according to mPOS provider iZettle, which has launched in Brazil in partner-ship Banco Santander. Likewise, in India there are 1.5 million SMBs contributing between 15% and 20% to GDP (see Table 3). Table 1: US SME and micro-merchant data Employment size of enterprise Firms Paid employees Annual payroll Firms with one to four employees (or with no employees as of March 2012) Firms with five to nine employees Firms with 10–19 employees Firms with 20–99 employees Firms with 100–499 employees 3,617,764 1,044,065 633,141 526,307 90,386 6,086,291 6,878,051 8,497,391 20,684,691 17,547,567 ($1,000) $232,062,907 $222,504,912 $293,534,352 $774,589,335 $706,476,693 Source: US Census Bureau, Ovum Table 2: EU SME and micro-merchant data Micro merchants Enterprise Small Medium SMEs Large Total Number Employment 19,143,521 38,395,819 1,357,533 26,771,287 226,573 22,310,205 (total) 20,727,627 87,477,311 43,654 42,318,854 20,771,281 129,796,165 Source: Eurostat, national statistics offices of member states, Cambridge Econometrics The rise of Mobile POS 6
  • 7. Table 3: India SME and micro-merchant data Enterprise Micro merchants Small Medium SMEs (total) Total Number Employment 14,850, 000 6, 534,000 760,000 2, 343,000 SME transaction volumes are variable The SME base is large but the transaction values generated by micro-merchants and small businesses can be unpredictable and low compared to larger merchants. Micro-merchants typically process low-value transactions, or higher value transactions on an infrequent basis. There can also be risks associated with the high attrition that can characterize the micro-merchant segment (many micro-businesses disappear as quickly as they appear). The variable nature of SME transaction volumes is a key reason why so many mPOS providers are trying to gain traction with larger enterprises. Growing competition The number of mPOS providers and services is growing rapidly – there are now well over 100 globally, and more will follow. mPOS hardware is already a commodity and some service providers are attempting to compete on price by driving down processing fees, but this a short-term tactic rather than a long-term fix. Something will have to give, and the most vulner-able mPOS providers will be those with basic solutions that are reliant wholly on 30,000 434.000 20,727,627 87,477,311 15,54,000 93,000,000 Source: Ministry of Small and Micro Medium Enterprises India micro-merchants, a base characterized by low, unpredictable transaction values or those without the backing of a trusted brand like a bank. In order to grow their businesses, mPOS solution provid-ers will need to achieve scale. They will have to expand beyond the core micro-merchant base into larger enterprises, where they will have to compete with traditional POS vendors, many of which are powerful, resource-rich companies. This will be difficult for smaller mPOS service providers in particular. Commoditization of the POS market The commoditization of basic mPOS is prompting solution providers to compete on price by driving down the transaction processing fees they charge merchants. In July 2013 PayPal launched a headline-grabbing “Cash for Registers” scheme in the US, whereby for a promotional period it waived fees on transactions up to a certain level in order to encourage merchants to adopt its PayPal Here tablet-based mPOS solution. It was a bold move from PayPal, but unlike most mPOS providers, it can afford it. PayPal is large company, and its financial resources allow it to absorb the cost with minimal impact on its business. For the vast majority of mPOS The rise of Mobile POS 7
  • 8. providers, competing on price should be viewed only as a short-term tactic – anything more than this is unsustainable, particularly for smaller mPOS players. Payment related services as a route to differentiation In this context, mPOS VAS become essential from both the monetization and differentiation perspectives. A few forward-thinking mPOS solution providers such as Comviva made specialist VAS their unique selling points from the start in the belief that mPOS service provid-ers should focus on leveraging the mobility advantage of mPOS to cater to merchant advantage of mPOS to cater to merchant business needs. This could mean enabling the overall buying and stocking life cycle or enabling how they reach out to their customers and conduct commerce. This will help them deliver higher value to merchants and hence become more efficient, thereby providing a differenti-ated offering to merchants. An associated trend is the provision of integration services for larger merchants looking to implement mPOS alongside existing POS systems. The rise of Mobile POS 8
  • 9. Evolution of mPOS The mPOS market has developed rapidly over the past four years, as Figure 1 highlights. The commodity nature of mPOS hardware means that service providers have to compete and differentiate on the strength of their VAS. But mPOS VAS are becoming increasingly uniform across service providers; as soon as one service provider innovates, others follow. Providers of mPOS services must have well-defined road maps for service develop-ment. This means that if certain features are not required immediately or by all merchants, mPOS providers need to be able to vary those features and enhance their VAS portfolios. mPOS - an overview Smartphone Card reader dongles. Basic, horizontal VAS - e.g. Invoicing, Inventory control Card reader from factors diversify, cradles, dedicated units mPOS VAS expands: consumer facing apps, specialist / vertical apps, increased range of back office VAS Table based mPOS takes off, gains traction with larger merchants Consumer facing mCommerce mPOS start to converge, e.g. Square Register & Square Wallet More mPOS provides offer system integration & consultancy with larger merchants in mind Introduction of EMV compliant solutions helps drive growth in Europe Flexible, competitive merchant fee structures proliferate Few early mover exceptions have sophisticated, specialist VAS, e.g. Intuit The rise of Mobile POS 9 Bredth & functionality 2010 Service evolution 2014
  • 10. mPOS payment related services The range of potential mPOS payment related services can be clustered around the following core service categories Back-office services: Applications that support the operational processes and administrative needs of merchants’ businesses. Consumer services: Front-of-house, consumer-facing services geared toward customer-relationship market-ing, customer support, and, more generally, applications that enhance customer engage-ment. Professional services: Specialist services that help merchants navigate, plan, implement, integrate, and maxi-mize mPOS technology and solutions. This can also extend to managed services. mPOS is being embraced by larger merchants A growing number of medium-sized and even some large merchants are starting to take note of mPOS, with early adopters having rolled out tablet-based mPOS implementations as a comple-ment to traditional POS or, in a few cases, as a replacement for cash registers. Starbucks, Nord-strom, JCPenney, Gap, Home Depot, and mPOS VAS types Bank-office services - Accounting - Banking Services - Stock and inventory management - Ordering and invoice creation - Data analytics Consumer services - Customer-loyalty programs, coupons,and offers - Customer receipts - Order taking - Stock checks - Product discovery - Location and navigation services - Social shopping apps Professional services - Consulting - System design - Systems integration - Security - Device/infrastructure management and maintenance - Managed services Sephora are all using or experimenting with mPOS alongside traditional POS, integrating mPOS platforms into existing payment systems. ICICI Prudential in India is working with Comviva to equip its agents with the capability to issue new policies at the customer's doorstep, including the ability to scan and upload documents for "know your customer" and policy payments. The interna-tional fashion chain Urban Outfitters has gone a step further: it has replaced cash registers with The rise of Mobile POS 10
  • 11. iPad-based mPOS solutions in selected US stores, and has plans for a wider rollout. Some large FMCG companies are also considering mPOS to complement their direct to consumer initiatives. For larger merchants, mPOS solutions offer value-added features and benefits not available when using traditional POS Queue busting – mPOS can be particularly valuable during peak shopping hours (lunchtimes and after work) and peak periods such as seasonal holidays, when retail-ers can supplement their fixed POS with mPOS. Fast inventory checks – it can be used to help customers find desired items. Space saving – if mPOS is used as a POS replacement, it frees up valuable store space for other uses. Promoting greater customer interaction generally. Enabling associated marketing services. For example, mPOS can be used to encour-age Allowing merchants to reach out to their customers more effectively e.g. an insur-ance customer using a tablet and a dongle. Sophisticated services like analytics that can sift through payment transactions and make recommendations to merchants on issues such as optimal inventory, ordering cycle or even make recommendations to customers based on previous buying patterns and preferences. Integration with merchant's existing IT and CRM systems like loyalty, inventory to seamlessly integrate with existing business processes. Use of technology like BLE (Bluetooth low energy) and location-based services to help provide real-time accurate information to consumers about store layout, or location of articles. mPOS will expand beyond retail pre- and post-sale shopping activities through discounts and reward schemes. agent being able to complete a policy sale in a single visit to the doorstep of a The retail sector has been the prime target for mPOS, but there are many other merchant segments and organizations that mPOS can address. Basically, any business or organization that would benefit from its staff being able to process card payments while mobile is a potential candidate for mPOS. This could also include large enterprises and public service organizations that at the moment are not typically viewed as mPOS candidates, from everyday scenarios such as police services that issue on the spot fines, to a stem cell banking company signing up customers at their home or local clinic. The rise of Mobile POS 11
  • 12. mPOS could also be used at sporting and other events in fixed venues to prevent queues and take payments at additional, flexible locations. Essel- World, one of India's premier entertainment destinations, is experimenting with mPOS to allow customers to buy entry tickets at a venue's car park or while they are travelling on a bus to an event. mPOS could be used in a similar fashion at conferences and conventions, and also at events such as outdoor concerts and festivals that take place at temporary locations. VAS would need high degree of customization At the moment there is a tendency to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to merchant solutions. Although merchants have certain common requirements (e.g. inventory and sales manage-ment), this top-down approach is out of step with the fact that merchants’ needs differ depending on the verticals they serve – small coffee shops’ requirements will be different from those of lone traders, which will be different from those of high street chains. Given the diversity of the merchant base, the underlying platform should be highly customizable to meet requirements of specific industry verticals. The rise of Mobile POS 12
  • 13. The mPOS Ecosystem Merchants Most mPOS solutions have experienced strong growth among micro-merchants, and for good reason. Most micro-merchants operate on a cash or check-only basis out of necessity rather than desire, because they cannot afford the high costs associated with traditional card-processing equipment, processing fees, and maintenance. Adopting mPOS provides them with a low-cost solution and flexible pricing models that make credit card accep-tance feasible where previously it was not. At the same time, mPOS also provides opportuni-ties for larger retailers to create efficiencies and enhance the in-store shopping experience for consumers. Banks Merchant acquiring banks have often been reluctant to take on micro-merchants because of their unpredictable transaction volumes, the risks associated with underwriting very small businesses, and the cost and lengthy payback period related to installing payment card processing terminals. However, the much lower cost of mPOS solutions means that acquiring banks can now build the business cases they need to facilitate credit card acceptance among micro-merchants, opening up new opportuni-ties in this market. Banks are also in a strong position to cross-sell mPOS solutions to larger merchants with which they have strong, trusted relationship. Mobile operators Mobile operators are pushing consumer-facing digital wallet services in a bid to drive new revenues, but so far few have embraced merchant-facing mPOS solutions. This is because operators have very limited merchant experience, while at the same time most operators believe there is more value in consumer-facing digital wallets rather than in mPOS. However, there are opportunities for mobile operators in the mPOS market. The most straight forward tactic is for operators to act as distributors for mPOS hardware, offering it as a way to add value to an existing portfolio of financial services. An example of this approach is AT&T’s retail partnership with Square, whereby it sells Square Card Readers in more than 1,000 stores, offering a rebate on the dongle to merchants that sign up. There are additional higher value options for operators, which are put forward in the Recommenda-tions section of this whitepaper. . The rise of Mobile POS 13
  • 14. Recommendations Merchants mPOS is a young, fast growing market with multiple players, many of them start-ups, which from a merchant perspective makes selecting the right partner particularly challenging. We advise merchants to favor mPOS solution providers with the following characteristics: mPOS solution providers that have a well-defined portfolio and road map for value-added services (this includes support for horizontal payment related services solutions required by all merchants such as inventory control, mobile marketing applica-tions) and VAS tailored for the needs and requirements for specific industry verticals. Data analytic capabilities. A key benefit of mPOS is its ability to capture customer data, a capability lacking in traditional POS equipment. Customer insights are invaluable to small merchants that cannot compete with the wealth of customer data that larger online merchants are able to gather, particularly global online players like Amazon. mPOS solutions providers that support tablet-based solutions. These are starting to be used by larger merchants as a comple-ment to existing POS, or in some cases as a replacement. mPOS solution providers that have strong service partnerships which benefit merchants - for example, PayPal Here comes with pre-integrated partner solutions including ShopKeep, Vend, and Erply. Associ-ated with this, mPOS solution providers should offer open APIs to support integra-tion with third-party applications. Larger merchants and other organizations in particular will need partners that have the ability to integrate mPOS solutions with existing front-office and back-office systems. There can be an assumption that payment related services are of most importance in attracting larger retailers to mPOS. While this group does increasingly expect innova-tive services, it is a mistake to think that the traditional micro-merchant base does not have an appetite for sophisticated payment related services. If anything, the need for VAS is more acute in the micro-merchant segment, where it can play a key role in building their core business. mPOS solution providers that have experi-ence and expertise in secure payment systems should be favored, as even minor security flaws have the potential to shake merchant and consumer confidence in this new technology. Merchants should have the flexibility to be able to subscribe to custom VAS bundles, selecting applications such as loyalty programs, or catalog management. The rise of Mobile POS 14
  • 15. Support for SDK development environment is desired as it accelerates creation of custom applications (IPOS) to meet distinct requirements of merchant categories or individual merchants. For large merchants using mPOS as a complement to existing POS solutions, prebuilt-connectors facilitate integration with critical backend IT systems used for CRM, inventory, billing and loyalty – allowing merchants to better manage their business. Support for mPOS APIs is also desirable as it gives merchants an option to embed card acceptance functionality within existing payment applications, saving time and money. Banks Most banks are arriving late to the mPOS market and need to move quickly, but they also need to consider very carefully the models they use. The easiest route is for banks to partner with an established mPOS product provider and focus on merchant acquiring and servicing rather than on technology. An alternative is for banks to source and provide their own mPOS solutions. A white-label product like payPLUS from Mahindra Comviva is lower risk and affords greater speed to market than a scenario where a bank tries to develop its own mPOS in-house. Launching a bank own-brand mPOS service is clearly the most challenging strategy. It requires banks to re-engineer their merchant sign-up process and risk-management models (merchant onboarding) to suit the require-ments and constraints of micro-merchants. This is a major undertaking, and the effort required should not be underestimated. The merchant onboarding process established by mPOS providers has set a new benchmark and is very different from the processes used by banks for the larger merchants they typically target. Mobile operators The most straightforward way for operators to participate in the mPOS value chain is by acting as distributors for basic mPOS hardware, but there are higher value opportunities available. A more strategic approach is for operators to offer mPOS as part of a service bundle, for example a package comprising a smartphone, dongle and data plan. Operators could build on this by offering more sophisticated cloud-based VAS such as account-ing software or analytics as part of the package, or integrating mPOS with their existing enter-prise solutions. They could also add tablets into the mix. This sort of “out of the box” proposition would appeal to both micro-merchants and larger enterprises. AT&T has taken a step in this direction by offering GlobalBay’s mPOS solution to SMEs. In the UK O2 is doing something similar, offering an mPOS solution in partnership with Visa Europe and Global Payments. The rise of Mobile POS 15
  • 16. Appendix This white paper was researched, authored and produced by Ovum in association with Mahindra Comviva, as part of a series of papers assessing the current state and future market direction of mobile broadband services for mobile operators. About Mahindra Comviva Mahindra Comviva is the global leader in providing mobility solutions. It is a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra and a part of the USD 16.7 billion Mahindra Group. With an extensive port-folio spanning mobile finance, content, infotainment, messaging and mobile data solutions, Mahindra Comviva enables service providers to enhance customer experience, rationalize costs and accelerate revenue growth. Its mobility solutions are deployed by 130 mobile service providers and financial institutions in 90 plus countries, transforming the lives of over a billion people across the world. For more information, please visit www.mahindracomviva.com. Ovum Consulting Ovum has an enviable and hard-earned reputation as a provider of telecoms consult-ing services. Our consulting customers tell us that, above all else, it is Ovum's industry knowledge and at tention to detail that puts us ahead of our competitors. This is directly related to the expertise of our consultants and analysts, and the project and research methodologies we use. We work across the globe with business leaders of telecoms operators, service providers and ICT vendors and with investment banks, governments and industry regulators. We hope that this analysis will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, Ovum’s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum’s consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at consulting@ovum.com. Disclaimer All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Ovum (an Informa business). The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings, conclusions, and recommendations that Ovum delivers will be based on information gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such Ovum can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect.