Jack Dorsey’s Square has been pretty much under the spotlight lately. After revealing their initial public offering for the stock market, the company has agreed a deal with Apple, in order to bring Apple Pay to the local business a lot of people use everyday, according to MacWorld.
Until now, Apple Pay, the Cupertino-based manufacturer’s mobile payments system was available just in selected shops, but thanks to Square, you will be able to use it even in independent shops across the United States.
Coming soon to a store near you
This Monday, the new contactless reader developed by Square started rolling our to 100 local businesses, located in 20 U.S. cities, including San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta, as stated by the same source.
The reader can accept Apple Pay, as well as other transaction types, using NFC, alongside process chip card payments. If you’re a store owner yourself, fancying the idea, the reader can be bought from the Square website, for just $49.
Announced this June, this little device connects to the Square Stand mobile register or any Android or iOS device running the mobile payments company’s point-of-sae app. After the transaction is inputed, a green LED light will start flashing, meaning that it’s ready to accept a contactless payment.
No more “we don’t accept that”
“People don’t shop at big-box retailers every day. It’s the stores you shop at every day that create habits. Ironically, these are the businesses that get left out of these transitions… I never want a business owner looking across the counter at the buyer and saying, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t accept that,” said Jesse Dorogusker, Square hardware chief, cited by Macworld.
This is a great step forward for Apple Pay, as through Square’s reader they allow independent shops to ‘join the club’. Let’s not forget that upgrading a register to accept contactless payments is far from being a cheap operation, so paying $49 for a reader (or more, depending on how many you want) is an excellent deal.
