51�Թ�

Skimming is when a device is illegally installed on an ATM or other point-of-sale terminal to capture credit card information.

Most importantly, the Z2 can accept contactless payments through NFC, which means it can be used as a point-of-sale terminal for someone running a food truck without additional hardware, for example.

Francis Guillen, a nurse at a public hospital who left her job this year, used her bonus to buy a point-of-sale terminal to make it easier to process payments for homemade hair products she now sells in a market.

The deal will put it in clear competition with Square, a payments processor that has gained a huge following among small businesses, and big point-of-sale terminal providers such as Worldpay.

Less than 5 percent of Square’s revenue comes from hardware, which includes a variety of credit-card readers and a stand that turns an iPad into a point-of-sale terminal. Square sells its hardware cheaply, or gives it away, to attract merchants onto its platform, where it profits from selling software services.