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North America's stand-alone pointof-sale terminal market continues to flatten. And while the leading terminal manufacturers are rolling out advanced machines capable of handling more complex functions in hopes of propelling sales, some smaller vendors are counting on more basic, low-cost debit/credit devices to drive their growth.
Last year, POS terminal makers shipped 1,630,335 devices in the U.S. and Canada, up 6.1 % from 1,536,521 in 1998. These totals include only terminals having debit or credit card swipes. Personal identification number pads used to accept online debit cards also are included if they have card swipes or other means of directly entering card information. Not included in the totals are devices used solely for entering PINs, check readers and separate printers.
Santa Clara, Calif-based VeriFone, which was acquired by HewlettPackard Co. in 1997, continues to lead the vendor pack in North American shipments. VeriFone, however, lost market share because of a reduction in terminal shipments.
The company last year shipped an estimated 620,000 devices, down 2.4% from approximately 635,000 in 1998. The 1999 shipment total earned VeriFone a 38% share of the market, which is down from a 41.3% share the previous year.
VeriFone's 1998 terminal data are a restated estimate. The total is considerably lower than estimated 900,000 devices reported last year that was derived with assistance from a VeriFone spokesperson. Citing H-P policy, VeriFone officials will not disclose terminal-shipment data.
However, Stuart Taylor, director of product marketing for VeriFone's Appliance Systems Division, concedes that VeriFone has lost market share and has experienced reductions in terminal shipments since H-P purchased the company in 1997. Taylor says VeriFone is on an upswing, though, and he expects the company to recapture lost market share and to again experience gains in terminal shipments this year.
A main beneficiary of VeriFone's recent problems, which include numerous top executives leaving the company to join its chief competitors, is Phoenix-based Hypercom Corp. Hypercom, which retains the rank as the region's second-leading terminal vendor in terms of shipments, says it shipped 459,092 POS terminals last year in the U.S. and Canada, up 17.7% from 390,000...