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Cash or charge?
Feb. 9th, 2010 10:09 amI don't have, and haven't planned on getting, a smart phone. But an application may finally have come along that makes it useful. As well as working at the University, I run my own consultancy. I do pretty small contracts in the SOHO market. Normally I get paid by check, but what if I could accept credit cards? Up to now that's been an expensive and complex issue for business people in the field, as opposed to being set up in a store-front location.
Interestingly a while ago Bill and I managed to lock ourselves out (don't ask). Well, when the locksmith came to open up the house, he used a credit card machine connected to his blackberry. I was impressed with how easy payment was. But now several companies have gone one better, and are providing either iPhone cases or electronic dongles to go on iPhones. This company - https://squareup.com/ - has a tiny reader that plugs into the audio jack on any smart phone (though currently they only have the software written for the iPhone - Android support is coming). They charge a micro-payment per transaction - just a few cents - and they are the 'merchant bank' so you don't have to set up a merchant bank account. Of course, VISA and Mastercard fees still apply. What this means is that every small business will now be able to afford to accept credit cards, IF they also have a suitable smart phone. The company plans to give the dongles away free.
What isn't so good about this idea is that the waiter who just took your card to run it at the register might also have a dongle and an account attached to the iPhone in his pocket. I'm not sure what protection there will be for that type of fraud. All in all though, this could be a very nice addition to small business tool sets - and an actual reason to buy a smart phone :-)
Interestingly a while ago Bill and I managed to lock ourselves out (don't ask). Well, when the locksmith came to open up the house, he used a credit card machine connected to his blackberry. I was impressed with how easy payment was. But now several companies have gone one better, and are providing either iPhone cases or electronic dongles to go on iPhones. This company - https://squareup.com/ - has a tiny reader that plugs into the audio jack on any smart phone (though currently they only have the software written for the iPhone - Android support is coming). They charge a micro-payment per transaction - just a few cents - and they are the 'merchant bank' so you don't have to set up a merchant bank account. Of course, VISA and Mastercard fees still apply. What this means is that every small business will now be able to afford to accept credit cards, IF they also have a suitable smart phone. The company plans to give the dongles away free.
What isn't so good about this idea is that the waiter who just took your card to run it at the register might also have a dongle and an account attached to the iPhone in his pocket. I'm not sure what protection there will be for that type of fraud. All in all though, this could be a very nice addition to small business tool sets - and an actual reason to buy a smart phone :-)
