iCCPay supports independent gateways

Melbourne based web developer, Michael Dimoudis, from webpanache.com.au has got the jump on Australia's banks with the a payment gateway for the iPhone, iCCPay.

Called iCCPay, the payment gateway is now available at Apple's iTunes online store. Apple andVodafone have also provided advertising support for the app by featuring it full page newspaper advertisements for iPhones and select applications over the last week.

It offers Australian merchants the ability to process credit-card payments via Apple's popular iPhone. Specifically, it enables merchants to key in their customers credit-card details, and submit them to a payment gateway  for authorization.

(Actual customer signatures can also be collected by turning the phone horizontally. The app uses the iPhone's camera to record an image of the signature).

 Two Australian payments gateway providers, eWay and SecurePay, are already supporting the app, which costs $A43.99 or $US35.

Dimoudis told Banking Day that building the app wasn't all that hard, and that negotiating the agreement with Apple was also quite easy.

"They approved the first version in just a couple of days" he said.

"I got the idea a few months ago and it took me about two months of dedicated effort to develop.  I put virtually all of my other development work on hold whilst I was developing it" he said.

"I went to an iPhone Development boot camp to further familiarise myself with the iPhone development environment as I was coming from a web development background."

Dimoudis said he had worked directly with Apple in the US to get his app approved, although Apple Australia had vouched with head office for his credentials.

He said that the deal with Apple will see him earn 70 per cent of any sales at iTunes, leaving the standard margin for Apple.
 
But he won't earn any commission or kick-back from the two payment gateway supported by the app.

"I chose eWay and Securepay simply because they're providers I know and have used in previous ecommerce development projects."