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Once the Credit-Card Reader to Beat, VeriFone Is Losing Its Grip

  • Payment-terminal maker slower to introduce mobile alternative
  • Chinese companies Fujian Newland, Pax nipping at its heels
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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If you pay with plastic at the checkout, chances are you’ve seen the logo of San Jose, California-based VeriFone Systems Inc.Bloomberg Terminal You may soon see a Chinese one instead.

VeriFone, the largest maker of payment readers in the U.S. and the second-largest in the world, is losing ground to rivals offering more mobile options or lower prices. The company’s share of the global payment-terminal market fell to 13.7 percent last year from 16.1 percent in 2014, according to a new analysis from the Nilson Report, a newsletter that tracks the payment industry. In the U.S., its share has eroded more slowly, to 39.4 percent from 40.5 percent, the report found.