Swiping the card (or lately the mobile phone) through a dataphone to pay for purchases in the store is a very common automatic gesture.But in the past it was not so simple and in the future it could become less frequent.Point-of-sale terminals (POS), the computer systems with which businesses process collections, have made a technological leap to provide even more value: from allowing a purchase to be financed with installment payments to facilitating logistics, shipping of articles, sales of 'ecommerce' or tax procedures, among others.If cash registers are left out, which are considered the antecedents of POS terminals, the first system to pay for purchases through a card was created in 1959 in the United States.The first plastic credit cards, which came from the hand of American Express, had the client's data printed in relief and a unique numbering.This allowed the use of validating machines that, by means of a manual roller, printed the card data on carbon copies of the purchase invoices.The businesses sent one of these copies to the banks, which validated the charges once a month.This system arrived in Spain in 1971, with the Banco de Bilbao credit card (the forerunner of BBVA) with BankAmericard, the current Visa.The card, which was initially launched in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao, had an expiration date of 6 months and allowed credit purchases at any associated establishment with a maximum limit of 25,000 pesetas at the time (just under 3,000 euros in 2020).Soon the validating machines were baptized with the name of 'bacaladeras', since the noise they made when a card was validated was very similar to that of the cutting device used by fishmongers.Despite subsequent technological advances, and the fact that it was an insecure system in the face of fraud, some businesses continued to use them well into the 2000s.'Bacaladera' of the Bank of Bilbao.Image: BBVA Historical ArchiveMeanwhile, in the 1970s, IBM introduced the first POS for restaurants in the United States.With these early electronic systems, servers could instantly transmit their orders to the kitchen via remote printing, information that was then transferred to a payment receipt for customers with taxes already included.The system expedited payment, but locals were still reluctant to offer card payment, as it took at least half a minute to process.In 1979, Visa and Master Charge (renamed MasterCard that year) electronic card machines appeared for the first magnetic stripe cards.Thanks to these machines, both banks and businesses were computerized and card payments were able to take off.In the following decades, technological innovations were developed for POS terminals and cards (credit and debit), which increased the agility and security of transactions.In the cards, the magnetic strip, which allowed real-time communication with the bank to authorize or reject the payment, gave way to the 'chip', a microprocessor that made operations even more secure;the four-digit PIN was devised, which in combination with the 'chip' reduced fraud;and later, 'contactless' technology made its appearance through NFC, which connects the card and the dataphone wirelessly without the need for a band or 'chip' reader.In parallel, POS terminals have also become more sophisticated: if in the early years they were connected via a fixed telephone line, since the advent of the Internet they can also be connected via Ethernet, 3G, 4G, GPRS, WiFi or Bluetooth networks.As for the dataphones, from the models that only authorized payment, others with a printer were passed that also printed the purchase receipt.As a curious note, in 1990 the then Banco Bilbao Vizcaya acquired a model, the TRANZ 420 from Verifone, which had batteries to achieve autonomy at points of sale without electricity.An innovation that the bank was interested in to be able to offer card payment in ski resorts.The operations were saved in a cartridge and could be downloaded in another terminal.Dataphones have been adapting to the evolution of cards and include readers for magnetic stripes, 'chips' and, finally, NFC, which allow 'contactless' or proximity payments by bringing the card closer to the device.They also show on the screen the option to divide the purchase payment into several installments, which are offered by some bank cards and the Plazox service.BBVA is part of this industry solution and has also just launched its own cards, Aqua Más and Aqua Máxima, with which its customers can install payment in installments of up to three months without interest or commissions directly from the 'app'.On the other hand, the incorporation of NFC technology to 'smartphones' allows customers to pay at POS terminals with their mobile phones instead of with their cards, which changes the paradigm of the last half century.from leftFrom left to right: Telettra Española dataphone (1984);Verifone TRANZ 420 model with battery (1990);and Lipman's Secura model (2009).Images: BBVA Historical ArchiveIn recent years, new technologies have allowed us to go much further."A technological revolution is taking place in payments that is having a favorable impact on businesses," says Ignacio Bañón, global head of Payment Solutions at BBVA.“Solutions to accept payments are increasingly simple, flexible and adapted to the needs of businesses.But the big change is that the new POS terminals are 'intelligent', allowing merchants to enjoy value-added services that help improve their processes and their business.And BBVA is leading this innovation, both in payments and in the development of new solutions for businesses”.BBVA offers businesses in Spain the Android POS, based on the Google operating system.Merchants can add applications on the screen of the terminal, as if it were a mobile, that allow them to automatically refund VAT in the 'Tax free' operation, easily make purchase returns or read QR to collect through Alipay or WechatPay, which improves the shopping experience of foreign customers.On the other hand, there is a tendency to reduce the size and weight of the devices.It is achieved by replacing physical 'tickets' with digital ones, which eliminates the need for a printer and allows the development of smaller and lighter 'hardware'.They are the 'dongles' or 'Mobile POS', card readers that connect to phones directly or via 'bluetooth'.BBVA offers this option to businesses in Spain and Mexico with the SmartPay Mobile POS, a small device that allows sales to be collected through an Android or iPhone mobile.To do this, simply download the BBVA SmartPay 'app' and link the POS to the mobile via 'bluetooth'.Virtual POS adapted to 'ecommerce' are also being developed, which integrate a payment gateway in 'online' stores and websites.BBVA has two options.On the one hand, the virtual POS, present in all the markets in which the bank operates, allows you to charge by card or Bizum, schedule payments (for example, the monthly subscription to an audiovisual content platform) and manage purchase returns.On the other hand, the Paygold solution (or Collection Link) allows a business that does not have a website to generate a link or a QR code that can be sent to the customer by email, SMS or social networks, to collect remotely with a card or Bizum.The bank has already implemented it in all geographies.Companies in Spain, Mexico and Peru that have one or more of these BBVA POS, whether physical or virtual, can manage them through My Business.This functionality is accessible both from the 'app' and from the web and allows sales of up to ten POS terminals and all payment methods established by the business (cards, Bizum, Wechat...) to be centralized in a single space.Thanks to technological advances, the new POS solutions depend less on traditional 'hardware' and enhance their 'software' capabilities to streamline the management of business activity.And the 'tap-to-pay' and 'tap-on-phone' solutions simplify collection even more, since it is not necessary to have a POS or 'dongle': all you have to do is bring the customer's card or mobile phone to the mobile or 'tablet' of the establishment, as in the pioneering pilot project in Spain that BBVA launched in December 2020.But, although perhaps in the future the presence of traditional dataphones will not be so familiar, thanks to these developments, POS terminals will be an increasingly important ally of business.© Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, SA 2022