Da they stand like analogue memorials: there are now signs in the entrances of numerous shops that draw the attention of customers to the fact that only cash payment is possible or that card payment is not possible. It’s been like this for almost a week now. Last Wednesday, terminals from the American manufacturer Verifone failed over a large area. But how could this have happened at all?
The H5000, as the terminal is called, was a good product to come out in 2012, payment experts say. The easier-to-read color display and the option of making contactless payments were obvious to many customers. Teething problems like slow processing of payments were quickly overcome by many merchants. According to Verifone’s own advertising, it is the best-selling terminal in Germany, but it is hardly used elsewhere. Exactly how many of these were sold is hard to say, but in 2018 they self-promoted 350,000 active H5000 terminals. At that time almost 840,000 terminals were in use, so this model type alone had a market penetration of 40 percent.