Intuit snaps up mobile checkout solution

Back in December 2011, I wrote about how a small Boston retailer, Magic Beans, was using mobile checkout technology on iPhones to complete transactions out in its showroom rather than at the cash register.

AisleBuyer has also caught the interest of supermarket retailer Big Y, which plans to use AisleBuyer's iPhone and Android mobile applications in-store for applications such as coupon scanning or to access customer reviews.

It turns out that someone else also found the AisleBuyer technology pretty interesting: Intuit has bought the developer for an undisclosed sum of money.

It is pretty easy to see how AisleBuyer fits with Intuit's various mobile payment and point-of-sale (POS) technologies, including GoPayment. In its GoPayment blog, Intuit marketing manager Melissa Tahan wrote that AisleBuyer will help create a mobile POS ecosystem.

On the company's blog, CEO Andrew Paradise wrote:

"For the past three years we’ve enjoyed the support and camaraderie of the Boston start-up community. As we embark on this next stage in our evolution, we are lucky to be staying in our offices in the Innovation District, and can’t wait to work with our new friends to create the future of the mobile point of sale payments business."

I feel compelled to disclose that I occasionally write for Intuit's Small Business Blog, but that doesn't make this purchase any less intriguing. The acquisition is another demonstration of why mobile payment technology will rewrite the rules for how small businesses are renumerated for their products and services.