British telecom company O2 recently announced a new Mobile Point of Sale service (mPOS) that would enable payment processing capabilities on Android and BlackBerry smartphones or tablets, according to 3G. The new POS service works in conjunction with a chip and PIN pad and is part of a partnership between the telecom company and Visa Europe.

"We want to unlock the value of electronic payments for small retailers," Visa Europe senior vice president of mobile Sandra Alzetta told Mobile News. "By getting this device into the hands of tradesmen, home-based businesses and market stall operators, we believe we can help them sell more products and services to consumers who forgot to withdraw enough cash."

Users can download a free mobile application from eMerit that manages all the card transactions on the Android or BlackBerry device, the news source reports. Additionally, an iOS version of the application is currently in development with no official launch date announced. Adding Apple smartphones to the collection of eligible mobile devices could be a tremendous boon for O2 in promoting their new mobile payment processing service.