Square's mobile payment service officially launches

By on May 11, 2010 at 12:47 PM
Business May 11, 2010

square

If you are not familiar with Square, it is a mobile payment service (hardware and software) that hopes to change how mobile transactions are processed. Now available for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Android devices, all you need to get going and accepting credit card payments is Square’s credit card reader. If you have been down the merchant account road before, you are probably asking how much the device costs, right? Square is giving out the reader, which plugs into the 3.5mm headset jack on your smartphone, for free. Their transaction rates are also pretty competitive at 2.75% of the transaction + $0.15 for all major credit cards. If you have always wanted to pay that shady guy off of Craigslist with plastic instead of paper, your dream might finally come true as this propagates throughout the wild. Check out a video of the service after the jump!

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34 Comments

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  • StevenGlansburg

    Really this is cool.
    Too bad I dumped my iphone for an incredible.
    Will still tell the uninformed friends of mine that still use iphone, and have businesses that need to do credit card transactions, about this.

    • Rachi

      “Now available for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Android devices,” It will work on your incredible!!!

    • VZWHoustonRegionalManager

      Steven, have fun with the lack of apps and slow 3G.

      • StevenGlansburg

        Lack of apps? I have 47 installed, and may install another. if you’re talking about flash I can’t hardly wait for Google IO either!
        3g speeds are fine though round 1 to 1.5 Mb steady, even in the sticks. But that’s the beauty of being able to upgrade your whole footprint to 3g on cdma as opposed to gsm having to start from scratch and having such limited 3g. Maybe they should just give up on this round and skip to lte.
        But you probably know all of thiis seeing as how you are a vzw RM

    • elijahblake

      awesome, not i can pay for drugs and prostitutes without stopping at the ATM.. FTW!!!

  • STFU

    AMAZING!!!!>……. REVOLUTIONARY!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!

  • RXWatcher

    Ummm..dude..they make an android version..its in the market. Why would you say you can’t use it on the incredible?

  • Jarret

    No android, no care to troll

  • VZWHoustonRegionalManager

    I don’t think people use “droids” for business. They are a lot like toys. They look like toys too.

    • StevenGlansburg

      That’s the great thing about this device, fun like a toy, but insanely productive, like a laptop. I see how the dividing line could get skewed, even when I’m working and producing, its just fun. This must be how people with ipads feel.

      • Elrabin

        Really? Toys? Funny, considering a good chunk of the 200 IT staff in my building, myself included, are using Droids or now Droid Incredible’s with full Exchange support, including security profiles, global list lookup and remote wipe.

        Sure, it does picture/music/video/web surfing and social networking like a champ, but that doesn’t make it any less potent as a business tool.

        The execs here in particular seem to be falling in love with the Droid Incredible because of the contoured back and the gorgeous high res AMOLED. We’re an all Verizon shop so its no real surprise that we have a lot of Droids.

      • Steve

        How much fun do they have trying to read the screen outside? I don’t know about you, but I like to go outside in the summer, and I don’t exactly leave my cell phone indoors when I do so.

  • Dara

    Sorry, this doesn’t work for me. I’m not going to swipe my card on somebody’s smartphone or any other personal computing device.

    Programming a card ripper would be all too easy.

    • KD

      I had the exact same thought. Where is the security in this?

    • DigDug

      I could not agree more c Dara. People put card rippers in the slots of ATM machines and grocery store terminals, so this device provides an extremely easy way for the unscrupulous to scan your card and make a dupe in mere seconds.

      Anyone who lets their card be run though one of these may as well wear a body billboard saying: “PLEASE JACK MY ACCOUNTS”

      • Jarret

        You are not just going to scan your card for some schmo on the street.
        This opens up the possibility for small businesses to allow cards also, like my home remodeling business, which really opens up what people can spend.
        Its not like you’re giving out your ss#, banks have ample account protection.
        Think about all of the shady little places you’ve used your card in the past with no problem.
        I got my card ripped at a home depot, kid used a card reader, and was printing out mag strips. He got me $or $2500, but I got it back the next day.
        My sister also had the same thing happen at a nail salon. So just because you are more trusting of non-mobile registers, doesn’t mean they are deserving.

      • DigDug

        @ Jarret,

        I also had my ATM ripped at a Citibank ATM. Of course there are dangers at “legitimate” retailers.

        But I would argue that the average schmo has little if any security SOPs in place. If you are my home remodeler or some other inidividual retailer, and I let you scan my card – Ive just given you – with one swipe – at LEAST:

        1. all the magnetic strip info;
        2. my card number;
        3. the name of the bank (or cc) issuer and their phone number;
        4. the card expiration date; and
        5. the card special 3-digit number (on back).

        At least for me, I am far more comfortable swiping my card at Home Depot than I am on the iPhone of some random dude peddling goods on the street corner or some stranger who walks in my house purportedly to remodel it.

      • StevenGlansburg

        They still don’t know the pin or your address.
        You get the money back.
        What are you alls views on pay pass then? I feel like someone could make a scanner and got to the mall scanning peoples back pockets and purses.

      • Travisvn1

        As opposed to giving them cash?? at least if you get scammed with a cc you have some protection with cash once they have your money you are SOL

      • Supersonic FTMFW

        “This opens up the possibility for small businesses to allow cards also, like my home remodeling business, which really opens up what people can spend.”

        So you’re banking on the fact that people spend like idiots when they use their credit cards, and when they do they’ll spend more than the transaction fees?

      • Jarret

        Yes, I have people ask me all the time if I can take a credit card. Home remodleing is very expensive and sometimes(after hurricanes) people need it done before they have funds in cash(insurance checks).
        So yes my business could be a lot more available with this.

      • SnoDrtRider

        I agree with Jarrett I am also in the home remodeling business specializing in fireplaces. Many times people will buy the unit at a retail location so they can charge it and pay me to install it because they do not have the funds to pay for the unit up front. This allows small businesses like us to sell like a retail outlet.

        I currently have a CC system on my phone that is through Intuit (the quickbooks people) but I need to enter the card info manually this will (hopefully) make it easier.

    • VZWHoustonRegionalManager

      you probably would if it said Verizon or Droid on it, you biased little fanboy

      • StevenGlansburg

        Wow! What devices do you push at your verizon then? Blackberries? Winmos?

      • Herb

        He’s an apple fanboy, he doesn’t work at Verizon. And yes, he probably likes Broadway shows, too.

    • alen

      don’t swipe your debit card. only use credit cards in these things unless you trust the person. i’ve had my credit cards compromised and it was always through some “legit” business.

      a lot of times the legit businesses will allow employees to download credit card data into MS Access or Excel. a lot of times this may happen over VPN. people will then lose laptops, the phone the attachment is on, they will share the data over p2p, etc. and when it happens the dumbass who copied the data acts innocent like it’s not their fault

  • Supersonic FTMFW

    Why would you want to pay a shady guy from Craigslist with a credit card? Why would anyone from Craigslist accept a credit card swipe when there are transaction fees? This isn’t a solution to very much, if anything. There’s ATMs everywhere. Cash is still best for one-off individual transactions. I have a hard time believing any business would (or could) implement a pay by swiping my iPhone procedure.

    • alen

      few years ago i read about a rash of fraud with certified checks. people would forge a certified bank check. go buy a car, usually in another state. person selling thinks it’s a real check.

  • Karen

    Why would I want the huge ugly “square” block hanging off my iPhone?

    Can’t I just type in a short “card ID” number/letter combo? (Even just 6 characters would allow for more than 2 BILLION users.)

  • http://www.brianward.com Brian Ward

    When you start out, there is a $100 per-charge limit and $700 per week limit which really limits the usefulness of the service for me. My average charge is $299.

  • stinky

    Only somebody with an iPhone would spend $25.19 at a coffee shop.

  • http://www.twitter.com/diontelove Dionte

    Mine is on the way.

  • nokiabrock

    This sounds like the early days of PayPal. And will they also freeze your account if they suspect fraud even though it’s a legitimate transaction.

    Not for me. I look at credit cards this way. Our society has made it so easy to charge our way into serious debt.

  • Weapondrift

    ironic that you are
    “VZWHoustonRegionalManager” and yet you are the pot calling the kettle black. Dont think that we dont read this.

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