IoT Explained
05 August 2025
Reading Time: 6 mins
Eseye
IoT Hardware and Connectivity Specialists
LinkedInDigital payments are changing the way merchants of the world do business. In developed markets, digital trumps cash for convenience and ease of use. What can be easier than contactless payments or tap to pay. While in less mature regions, digital makes small and micro businesses a reality. In both cases, however, connectivity is critical at Point of Sale (POS). If a payment terminal is not online, it’s not making money.
Several waves of technological innovation have now taken place in the payments terminal space, opening up myriad opportunities through dedicated fixed and mobile hardware terminals typically seen in large shops, to small business and consumer grade devices that rely on mobile handset connectivity, and now software-based apps that make use of NFC capabilities on the mobile handset itself.
For merchants and mobile payments application providers, this has created a sizable but highly fragmented opportunity, with hardware and software solution providers playing across multiple segments with offerings suited to different sized businesses. Let’s compare ePOS vs mPOS side by side and see how they stack up.
What is an ePOS payment solution?
ePOS or electronic Point of Sale is the broad or umbrella term for all kinds of electronic systems used for processing payments and in some cases managing sales and inventory.
It can refer to both fixed and mobile systems, such as large cash register type devices through to portable terminals commonplace in many established businesses. For fixed terminals, connectivity may be delivered via Ethernet or wireless, ensuring a reliable point-of-sale experience. For portable terminals wireless connectivity, such as Bluetooth or WiFi, is more likely, with other LPWAN or cellular connectivity also a possibility.
Larger ePOS terminals may provide a more comprehensive suite of capabilities for managing various aspects of a business beyond just payment processing, such as inventory management, or CRM integration.
Example ePOS providers include Epos Now, Lightspeed, Square, and Shopify.
What is an mPOS payment solution?
mPOS or mobile Point of Sale systems have become very popular in small businesses – anywhere from small local shops or market stalls, to bars, restaurants and popups due to their cost-effective nature.
These setups typically include a separate hardware card reader that pairs with a smartphone or tablet – usually via Bluetooth – and communicates with the cloud-based payment processing software via an app on the device.
The benefit of an mPOS is that it allows merchants to accept various payment types, including chip cards, magnetic stripe cards, and contactless payments with minimal investment in infrastructure.
Example mPOS providers include Square, PayPal, Shopify, Toast, Yoco, and Clover.
What is a SoftPOS payment solution?
SoftPOS, short for software Point of Sale, is typically an app that turns a standard smartphone or tablet into a contactless payment terminal. Without any additional hardware the device is only capable of taking contactless payments using the native NFC functionality and cannot take chip or mag stripe payments.
This model is becoming increasingly popular among small businesses worldwide as there is no additional overhead or hardware required. The main challenges, especially in developing markets, are likely to be software compatibility with older devices.
Examples of SoftPOS providers include myPOS, Square, REvolut, Nexxtap, Softpay and dozens more.
Adoption of mPOS and SoftPOS
According to Berg Insight, the mPOS terminal market is growing at about the same rate as the traditional or ePOS terminal segment, with the global installed base of mPOS terminals reaching an estimated 119 million units in 2024.
The popularity of NFC payment terminals, which can be integrated into a wide variety of IoT-enabled devices from shop kiosks to EV charging stations, is also driving an uptick with the installed base of NFC-ready mPOS terminals hitting over 90 million units in 2024 just as NFC penetration reached 76% worldwide.
But while the mPOS device segment has started to face competition from SoftPOS solutions which allow many businesses to accept payments via a standard iOS or Android device, the number of smartphones running SoftPOS globally is still less than 10 million, according to Berg Insight.
See our IoT use cases for ePOS in retail, here.
Importance of cellular connectivity in ePOS
Cellular connectivity has become a very popular option for ePOS terminals, both in fixed and portable hardware formats, and was incorporated in 54% of POS devices shipped in 2024, Berg Insight said. The installed base of cellular ePOS terminals reached 164.8 million in 2024.
But with the rise in mPOS and SoftPOS adoption, small businesses and solution providers are beginning to realize that while consumer-grade devices can help them accept payments, consumer-grade connectivity is not ideal for business.
Many of these solutions rely on one-size-fits-all connectivity options that encourage the use of consumer SIMs that are not robust enough for consistent and reliable connectivity.
The outcome is always the same – frustrated customers, frustrated employees, and even potential revenue loss, not just for the business but for the payment services provider too.
Many standard card payment terminals fall into a common trap of using SIM cards designed for consumer devices that are tied to one mobile network. So, while an mPOS terminal might work well in one area of the country, it could struggle to connect in a more rural location or on the bottom floor of a mall. Some suppliers mitigate this problem by providing their customers with two SIMs for their card reader, so if one is not working, they can swap over to the other. But juggling multiple SIMs is a challenge in itself during a busy shopping season.
There’s also a difference in how consumer data is packaged and charged for, and merchants could find themselves paying large amounts in monthly subscription fees, while mPOS and SoftPOS solution providers could inadvertently make their offerings unattractive by partnering with connectivity providers that charge high amounts for data connectivity.
Consumer SIMs are intended for video rich data applications and billed accordingly, whereas IoT and M2M devices generate much smaller but burstier bandwidth requirements.
Reliability is also an issue. It’s not uncommon for store owners to have multiple card readers from different providers, each with a different SIM.
Employees will typically use one device until it has a problem processing a transaction, at which point they apologize to the customer, and grab the next one. The problem device is not cycled back in until there is another problem with the alternative.
This could mean the provider of that mPOS loses hours, days, even weeks of transaction charge revenue until the other devices fail and this one is cycled back in. For the store owner, this could also mean unpredictability in overheads if the different payment services charge different fees for card payments.
The role of eSIM/eUICC in ePOS connectivity
IoT specialist connectivity providers like Eseye use eSIM and eUICC technology to equip ePOS devices with multi network SIMs that can be switched between providers over the air, providing the best possible coverage wherever the device is located, even if that changes over time. This also allows ongoing optimization in the field, should terminals move, or networks have faults or congestion issues.
Eseye’s AnyNet+ SIM maintains agreements with over 800 major global mobile network operators and can connect to whichever network has the best capacity at the time and place the mobile payments terminal is used.
Eseye’s AnyNet SMARTconnect™ gives IoT devices, including ePOS, the intelligence to swap to another network if connectivity drops, and future-proofs the device by allowing new networks and operators to be easily introduced. It also provides the building blocks to enable connectivity applets with access to multiple RATs – for example cellular, Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth, LoRaWAN and satellite for especially challenging or unique use cases.
Where enterprises in less developed parts of the world and micro-businesses everywhere face challenges in connectivity, the opportunity is simply too big to ignore. While their needs are simply too small to be met by the big banks and mainstream payment services providers, solutions that adopt multi-profile or eSIM technology can ensure payment devices and POS terminals work quickly, reliably and consistently.
This means more transactions on that device, which means more revenue for both the retailer and the payment services provider.
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