Trying to setup one’s business with merchant payment gateways can be a hassle and often more than a bit confusing. Many businesses opt to use PayPal but the transaction fees charged by this company can be a bit prohibitive – especially for those businesses that are brand new and not conducting a lot of payment transactions. SquareUp, a new start-up company currently in its beta stage, wants to change all that for both small businesses and individuals with a swiping device that can be easily connected to one’s mobile media device.
Twitter and Angels
Headed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and backed by several angels including Khosla Ventures, the SquareUp service provides a swiping dongle device that connects to the audio outlet of a cell phone. Currently the only device supported is the iPhone but plans are in place to integrate the dongle with the Android and Blackberry devices. Ultimately, SquareUp intends on having the device work with just about every major mobile media device available.
How-to
To complete a financial transaction, the SquareUp user simply connects the dongle to their iPhone, swipes the customer’s credit card, requests a signature from the customer via the touchscreen, and the payment is made instantaneously. Customers may also request receipts at their e-mail address.
As the service is being beta tested for the moment, very few details have been released. It has been speculated that there are no long-term contracts to have to contend with and no ongoing monthly fees. As such, it would be safe to assume there are transaction fees and, in order to compete with such services as PayPal, these fees would need to be standard or lower.
Internet Feedback
The feedback on this new service has been rather mixed. As SquareUp has played close to the chest in as far as information being released, curious Internet users have only been able to guess on what the service will provide and what the overall cost will be. Some have expressed concern over the security of the service. Skimming programs are plentiful when it comes to lifting banking information off of cell phones and with the banking industry being hit hard enough lately as it is, yet another avenue for fraud may not be welcomed with open arms.
Another concern expressed by Jon Paisner, Yankee Group senior analyst, is that many potential users may not quickly adopt the service due to yet another device one needs to carry around. Additionally, there is the concern that the audio jack in most mobile media devices is not designed for repetitive use in this manner and may be damaged with long-term use.
Overall
The overall feedback on the SquareUp service is that it may be a useful product for niche businesses – single style transactions (traveling sales), freelance work, and other means where mobile payment may be required. Most businesses that conduct many daily transactions would not benefit from using SquareUp. However, as stated, not a lot of information has been released by the company and the planned public release date does not occur until sometime in 2010. The best stance to take at the moment is to keep a watchful eye on SquareUp and see what unfolds.
April 12th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
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