an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . may 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message coordinates 37 22 19.7 n 121 55 32.6 w 37.372139 n 121.925722 w 37.372139 ; 121.925722 verifone inc. the way to pay type public traded as nasdaq pay nyse pay industry banking & finance electronics founded hawaii us 1981 founder william bill melton headquarters san jose california usa area served worldwide key people paul galant ceo 1 products payment terminals vx ux mx e v p lines tablet based pos software globalbay and globalbay merchant pos systems for the petro and convenience industry payment services taxi media and advertising liftretail loyalty and upselling solution for petro and convenience . services payment as a service revenue us 1.8 billion 2014 2 total assets us 3.748 billion 2012 3 total equity us 1.384 billion 2013 4 number of employees 5 000 website www.verifone.com footnotes references 5 verifone is an american multinational corporation headquartered in san jose california that provides technology for electronic payment transactions and value added services at the point of sale . 6 7 8 9 10 verifone sells merchant operated consumer facing and self service payment systems to the financial retail hospitality petroleum government and healthcare industries . the company s system solutions consist of pos electronic payment devices that run its own operating systems security and encryption software and certified payment software and that are designed for both consumer facing and unattended environments . its system solutions process a range of payment types including signature and personal identification number pin based debit cards credit cards contactless radio frequency identification cards smart cards pre paid gift and other stored value cards electronic bill payment check authorization and conversion signature capture and electronic benefit transfer ebt . the company s architecture enables multiple applications including third party applications such as gift card 11 and loyalty card programs healthcare insurance eligibility and time and attendance tracking and allows these services to reside on the same system without requiring re certification upon the addition of new applications . contents 1 overview 2 history 2.1 pioneering transaction automation in the 1980s 2.2 new directions for the 1990s 2.3 new directions for the new millennium 3 products 3.1 countertop and pin pads 3.2 multimedia customer facing 3.3 portable 3.4 mobile 3.5 petroleum 3.6 unattended and self service 3.7 contactless peripherals 3.8 network access solutions 3.9 services 4 key trends and forces 4.1 summary of trends 4.2 exposure to and rapid penetration of electronic payments in emerging markets 4.3 increasing ip connectivity 4.4 growth of wireless communications 4.5 increased focus on security issues 5 competition 6 acquisitions 7 corporate affairs 7.1 board s role in risk oversight 7.2 adoption of majority voting provision 8 references 9 external links overview edit the company uses the verifone name and logo worldwide as a primary part of the branding of the company and its products and registers these trademarks in the key jurisdictions where the company does business including the u.s. and the eu . as of october 31 2013 the company held trademark registration in 22 jurisdictions including registration in the eu that covers various country level registrations that the company had previously filed for the verifone trademark and in 32 jurisdictions including registration in the eu that covers various country level registrations that the company had previously filed for verifone trademark including its ribbon logo . on november 3 2014 the company unveiled a new corporate logo new brand identity that represents a new verifone that is driving the future of commerce in a rapidly evolving digital world where electronic payments commerce and mobility are converging . 12 13 from its beginnings as the first payment device manufacturer verifone s product and point of sale service offerings have changed considerably . 14 verifone offer payment technology expertise solutions and services that add value to the point of sale with merchant operated consumer facing and self service pos payment systems . founded in hawaii u.s. in 1981 verifone now operates in more than 150 countries worldwide and employ nearly 5 000 people globally . verifone s steady growth has come both organically through a dedication to innovation and strategic partnerships 15 and from smart acquisitions . 16 core focus and growth areas for the company include mobile commerce 17 18 19 security services and emerging global markets . as a global company verifone have headquarters representing each of its core global areas of operation san jose california ; london u.k. ; singapore ; turkey ; and miami florida . verifone is dedicated to supporting local markets and needs with a direct presence in more than 45 countries . history edit verifone was founded by william bill melton and incorporated in hawaii in 1981 and named itself after its first product the name standing for verification telephone . since the late 1980s verifone has held more than 60 percent of the u.s. market and during the 1990s the company captured more than half of the international market for such systems . in 1996 the company placed its five millionth system . domestic and international sales of pos systems continue to form the majority of verifone s annual sales which hit 387 million in 1995 and were expected to top 500 million in subsequent years . the sudden growth of the internet and especially the world wide web in the mid 1990s created a demand for secure online financial transaction applications . verifone has taken the lead in designing applications conforming to the secure electronic transaction set standards developed by visa inc. and mastercard . with the 28 million 1995 acquisition of enterprise integration technologies 20 the company that developed the secure hypertext transfer protocol s http and a 4 million equity investment in cybercash inc. led by verifone founder william melton and with 1996 partnership agreements with internet browser leaders netscape oracle corporation and microsoft verifone has rolled out a suite of software products targeted at consumers merchants and financial institutions allowing secure purchases and other transactions online . purchases over the internet which still produced as little as 10 million in 1995 are expected to reach into the billions by the turn of the century . verifone has also been working to marry the smart card to the internet ; in 1996 the company introduced the personal atm p atm a small smart card reader designed to be attached to the consumer s home computer which will enable the consumer not only to make purchases over the internet but also to recharge the value on the card . verifone has also partnered with key tronic to incorporate a p atm interface directly into that company s computer keyboards . pioneering transaction automation in the 1980s edit by the beginning of the 1980s the major credit card companies began seeking methods to reduce processing costs and losses due to fraud . in 1981 visa and mastercard 21 began offering merchants discounts on their transactions if they agreed to use newly developed automated transaction technology for all credit card purchases greater than 50 . this move opened the way for the creation of an industry devoted to producing pos authorization systems . early systems typically had starting prices of 900 . verifone introduced its first pos product in 1982 . 22 by slashing operating costs and lowering manufacturing costs by outsourcing production verifone brought its first system to the market at 500 . working with visa verifone quickly captured a strong share of the pos market . in 1984 however the company took a major step toward achieving industry dominance with the introduction of its zon credit card authorization system which taking advantage of improvements in processor speeds and the lowering cost of both processors and memory cost as little as 125 making it easier to convince retail merchants to install the system in their stores . the following year the company s revenues grew to 15.3 million earning a net profit of 864 000 . in that year verifone moved its headquarters to redwood city outside of san francisco to be closer to that area s software and hardware engineering talent pool as well as to its customers and investors . the company doubled revenues to about 30 million in 1986 . by january 1988 verifone controlled more than 53 percent of the pos systems market . revenues had reached 73.4 million with net earnings of more than 6 million . the following year the company increased its dominance in the industry with the purchase of the transaction automation business of icot corp. then second in the market with a 20.5 percent share . 23 the acquisition boosted verifone s revenues to 125 million . by then verifone had entered the international market starting with australia in 1988 and placing its millionth zon system in finland in 1989 . new directions for the 1990s edit verifone went public in march 1990 raising more than 54 million . as the credit card industry matured verifone pushed to install its systems into new markets such as restaurants movie theaters taxis 24 25 and fast food restaurants 26 27 while developing software capacity to bring its systems into the health care and health insurance markets and to government functions such as state welfare systems . international sales also began to build as use of credit cards became increasingly accepted in foreign markets . verifone was also building its global operation opening facilities in bangalore singapore england dallas and ft. lauderdale in addition to its hawaii and california facilities . rolling out its gemstone line of transaction systems which added inventory control pricing and other capabilities verifone was aided by announcements from visa and mastercard that the companies would no longer provide printed warning bulletins while requiring merchants to seek authorization for all credit card transactions by 1994 . these moves further stimulated demand for verifone s products . revenues jumped from 155 million in 1990 to 226 million in 1992 . by then verifone had placed its two millionth system in fouquet s restaurant near paris in 1991 ; by 1993 verifone systems were in place in more than 70 countries including its three millionth system in brazil representing the company s expansion in the latin american market . international sales which had contributed less than ten percent of revenues before 1990 now accounted for more than 30 percent of the company s nearly 259 million in annual revenues . new opportunities arose as banks began rolling out debit cards in the mid 1990s . 28 verifone was quick to launch itself into this new market producing terminals designed with key pads for customers to punch in their pin numbers . but as the domestic credit and debit card markets neared saturation verifone made ready to launch itself in new directions . while continuing its international expansion topping four million installed systems in 1994 and maintaining its manufacturing capacity doubling production capacity with a new plant near shanghai in china in 1994 verifone had already evolved its primary focus to producing software applications offering vertically integrated systems solutions including applications for standard computer operating systems . verifone moved to take the lead in the coming smart card revolution teaming up with gemplus international a france based maker of the cards and mastercard international to form the joint venture smartcash . 29 to place the company close to technological developments in france and the rest of europe verifone opened its paris research and development center in 1994 . the company launched its smart card in may 1995 . the company introduced its personal atm a palm sized smart card reader capable of reading a variety of smart card formats in september 1996 with the product expected to ship in 1997 . among the first customers already signed to support the p atm were