Ask most VARs or MSPs about entering the payments business, and you’ll likely hear the same objection: it’s a specialized, heavily regulated world best left to someone else. A panel of payment technology executives at BlueStar’s VARTECH event in Connecticut argued that assumption is now outdated – and that the barrier to entry has quietly collapsed.
The panel, “Frictionless & Flexible: Capitalizing on Next-Gen Payment Architecture,” brought together Gary Dalton of MicroTouch, Duffy Fron of Toshiba Global Commerce, Andrew Cole of Felix Payment Systems, and Jamie Mitchell of BlueStar EMEA to unpack SoftPOS – software-based point of sale – and why it’s becoming one of the more accessible on-ramps into the payments business for solution providers already selling into retail and hospitality.
What SoftPOS actually is
At its core, SoftPOS is the digitization of a payment terminal. As Cole put it, a traditional terminal has both a functional element and a security element built into dedicated hardware; SoftPOS takes those same pieces and turns them into software that runs on devices retailers already own. Any NFC-capable tablet, phone, or Android handheld can become a certified payment terminal for contactless transactions, without a dedicated $300 to $800 payment box.
That doesn’t mean the rules get looser. Mitchell was direct on this point: “SoftPOS doesn’t circumvent payment certification requirements. It still has to be governed and apply to the same rules that govern traditional payment terminals.” What changes is where that certification lives. Traditional terminals require certification at both the hardware and software layers; with SoftPOS, it consolidates at the application level, which is what lowers the bar for new entrants.
The certification stack, briefly
For partners evaluating this space, three EMV levels matter. Level 1 covers the hardware – the NFC reader, antenna placement, and card-read accuracy. Level 2 covers the kernel, which governs how the software talks to the acquirer. Level 3 covers the end-to-end connection to the bank. Layered on top is PCI DSS, the 300-plus-page security standard every SoftPOS deployment still has to satisfy. Dalton cautioned that not all hardware currently on the market actually holds EMV Level 1 certification, despite being sold as payment-ready – due diligence on a vendor’s certifications, he said, is non-negotiable.
The numbers behind the momentum
The panel backed the case with data drawn from their own vantage points in the industry. Cole cited Visa figures putting contactless transactions at roughly 19% of volume in 2020 and 2021, climbing to more than 80 % today – by his account, the fastest-growing trend in payments. Mitchell cited Juniper Research projections putting SoftPOS-enabled devices in Europe at around 28.5 million today, growing to 46 million by 2030, with retail accounting for 42% of that deployment base.
Android’s momentum in the POS market is easier to verify independently. Counterpoint Research puts Android at 48% of POS terminals shipped in 2025, up from near zero a decade ago, and projects it will reach roughly 70% of global shipments by 2032 as native NFC support makes it the simpler platform to build payment applications on – a steadier climb than the 85% the panel projected, but the same direction of travel.
Where it’s already working
The panel pointed to deployments already in motion. Felix Payment Systems worked with Away, the luggage retailer, to replace bulkier mobile devices with tap-to-pay hardware across its store associates – a six-month rollout now running at roughly 90% tap-to-pay adoption. BlueStar EMEA’s Jamie Mitchell described a UK deployment with Britbet, a collective tote-betting operator, where SoftPOS on handheld devices cut queue bottlenecks during high-volume race windows and grew into a 1,600-unit rollout of fixed customer-facing displays. Felix also cited what it called the first SoftPOS deployment on a Windows device, at Nebraska Furniture Mart, displacing a tablet-and-Bluetooth-dongle setup entirely. And Dalton pointed to an upcoming rollout with Circle K, which is requesting NFC support on 27-inch kiosk screens, with an initial deployment of 3,000 to 4,000 units expected.
What this means for VARs and MSPs
The panel’s advice to partners considering this space converged on one word: partner. As Mitchell put it, “You’ve got three choices – build, buy, or partner – and partner is the only accelerated play.” The panelists urged solution providers to vet vendors on certification scope specifically (some vendors cover only the payment kernel, others handle the full stack through to the bank), to prioritize vendors that support multiple operating systems, and to consolidate support down to a single point of contact wherever possible.
The larger point, though, was about timing. Cole noted that partners already selling NFC-capable devices into retail – for inventory management, clienteling, or other non-payment use cases – are often having that payments conversation with someone else entirely, simply because the hardware wasn’t originally positioned as a payment device. For MSPs and VARs already embedded in a customer’s retail or hospitality environment, that’s a gap worth closing before another vendor closes it for them.
