Readers Will Work For Variety Of Mobile Payment Platforms, Including EMV Chip Cards
Payment processing company Square, which has mobile payment solutions used by many small businesses across the US, has started to unveil its new mobile payment reader, which accepts new forms of payment including EMV chip cards, Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay. USA Today reported that Jesse Dorogusker, head of hardware at Square, wrote in an email, “Until now, technology like our new reader has been out of reach for local businesses. … Now Square sellers across the country can quickly and easily accept the new forms of payment that are crossing their counter tops.” Apple vice president for Apple Pay Jennifer Bailey said earlier this year at a Re/Code conference that “about 60,000 merchants per month were adding contactless terminals that are Apple Pay enabled,” which has since risen to roughly 100,000 small to medium-sized merchant locations each month, USA Today said. The new device “replaces the iconic mini-square mounted on top of a phone or iPad with a bulkier, standalone chip card-friendly reader,” and “will be rolling out to customers this week,” Fast Company reported. Venture Beat reported that the company introduced the reader by rolling the $49 device out “to 100 small businesses around the US.” First announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference over the summer, Square at the event had “promised to give the reader to 250,000 small businesses for free,” the article said. Showing CEO Jack Dorsey last week saying Square would “focus a lot of energy on the new reader” in order “to accept a chip card without having to think about it,” Bloomberg TV’s Bloomberg West also covered the introduction. “It’s a big move and well timed,” said Techonomy founder David Kirkpatrick. Asked about the potential for Square to expand beyond a payments processing company, Kirkpatrick said, “I think Jack Dorsey sees himself as empowering small business owners and entrepreneurs even to the level of people who are sole proprietors. I know in his mind he thinks it’s analogous to the way Twitter empowers all of us to be broadcasters on the internet, which was a revolution, and he wants to create another revolution for small business.”
What This Means For Small Businesses
Many small businesses have come to rely on mobile payment options that are easy to set up and allow customers greater flexibility in making payments. News that Square has a new payment reader to allow small businesses to accept additional forms of payment may be helpful to small businesses looking to accept new forms of payment from customers.
Additional Reading
UberGizmo detailed some of the first 100 businesses using the device. Near Field Communications World and Android Central also reported on the new payment readers.
Note: this article is intended to keep small business owners up on the latest news. It does not necessarily represent the policy stances of NFIB.
