The mobile payment revolution is well under way, but you may not recognise it. Instead of the hype-laden scenario many predicted, in which consumers clamour to use their smartphones to order and pay for goods that are then delivered to their homes, the reality is more mundane. It comes, rather, in the form of a gradual evolution of the point-of-sale device.Even the cutting-edge mobile payment services announced in the past year, such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, are dependent on adoption by merchants more than by consumers.That, in turn, means that the mobile payments revolution has to be preceded by a revolution in what the banks call "acquiring" - signing up merchants to their credit card and payment platforms. The bank is then allowed to accept the card payments taken by the merchant at the point of sale.story_article_left1Acquiring and acceptance make for a particularly unsexy business, as they depend more on sales technique than on cool technology and apps. As a result, the typical consumer adopts a mobile payment solution only when confronted with it at a pay point or restaurant table.Apps such as SnapScan and Zapper require customers to use their smartphones to scan a mobile barcode called a QR code. The apps compete with hardware terminals like Absa's Payment Pebble, Nedbank's Pocket POS, and the independent iKhokha - Zulu for "to pay" - which all connect to a smartphone or tablet managed by the merchant.And there's the rub: if it's merchant-driven, it's also acquirer-driven, meaning that every merchant has to convince a bank to "acquire" it. Many online retailers get around this limitation by signing up to "supermerchants", third-party payment processors who are allowed by the banks to sign up as single large merchants on behalf of many small businesses.That option has been missing in mobile payments, although both Absa and Standard Bank offer a semblance of this service through lower barriers to entry for the likes of one-person businesses.Now there's a new name in town. Or, more specifically, in Cape Town, which has been the proving ground for a start-up called Yoco.Formed in 2012, it was finally given the go-ahead by Mercantile Bank in 2014, and began piloting its service in the Mother City a year ago.It offers a mobile payment terminal that connects wirelessly to a tablet, and a small, low-cost terminal that plugs into a smartphone and allows every member of staff to process payments on the fly.story_article_right2All payment information is processed in the Cloud, and an online platform allows merchants to analyse product, staff and store performance.Now, with several hundred merchants on board, the brand is formally being launched nationally this month."This country has the largest acquirer market in the Middle East and Africa by processing volume," says Katlego Maphai, MD of Yoco."But in terms of physical merchants being able to accept payments, it is very low relative to the number of small businesses in the country. That's who we going after."Yoco sets itself apart by going beyond payment processing, offering a platform for business functionality such as item management, staff management and sales analysis. That means it is not merely a payment processor, but a payment ecosystem. In that sense, it represents the next phase in the evolution of mobile payments.Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter @art2gee..