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Macworld 2010: Video demo of Square's credit-card reader for the rest of us

by Steven Sande Feb 15th 2010 at 12:00PM

Last week at Macworld 2010, I had an opportunity to chat with Jim McKelvey of Square, the company that wants you to be able to take credit card payments for ... everything! TUAW has covered Square before, mainly discussing the big investors in the company including Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Digg's Kevin Rose.

Beginning in April, Square will be giving away a small card reader that plugs into the headphone jack of your iPhone, iPod touch, and eventually just about any device that has a headphone jack. You sign up for a service, buy an app to go on your device (it's estimated that it will cost just US$1.99), and then you can start taking credit cards for all of those daily transactions where you normally exchange cash. Square makes their money off of a small percentage fee, and even donates a penny to a charity of your choice with each transaction.

McKelvey was taking donations for the American Red Cross at the Square kiosk in order to demonstrate how the system works, and it was impressively simple. Square was created for the purpose of making it easy for anyone to take credit cards without the expense and hassle of setting up a merchant account with a bank and/or purchasing an expensive card-reading attachment for their iPhone.

The software captures signatures, pictures, and even the location where the transaction took place. My receipt for the $10 donation to the Red Cross had an embedded Google Map showing that I had made the purchase at Moscone Center. Check out the video for my interview with Jim McKelvey by clicking the Read More link.

We apologize for the low quality of the sound on this video.


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Last week at Macworld 2010, I had an opportunity to chat with Jim McKelvey of Square, the company that wants you to be able to take credit...
 

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Tariq

I love the concept of Square and the way the company has implemented it into such an elegant/easy transaction. But I have to say, that Jim guy was a jerk when I met him at Macworld. I wanted to show a couple friends a demo, so I took them over to the booth. Jim laughed at as because we didn't have credit cards (sorry, we're still a little too young) and then started bragging about he had a $50,000 per month limit on his, which is better than our cash. Of course, when I asked him to put up his money, he just shut up. Really tainted my first physical impression of the company (and my friends').

February 15 2010 at 5:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Tariq's comment
Calexifan

Thanks for sharing your experience. I haven't had firsthand experience with this company, but I attempted to sign up for their beta several months ago and didn't even receive a "thanks for your interest..." email reply.

The more I heard about them, the more I'm not liking what I hear. Basically, all this appears to be is a PayPal-type service with an iPhone dongle. Might be good for retailers who only need to take a credit card once in a blue moon, but the associated per-swipe fees would make it very expensive for retailers who already have credit card merchant accounts.

February 15 2010 at 6:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Aaron Anderson

Anyone else think the design is a little... say... stupid? make it so the dang thing hugs the egdes of the phone so it's not this stupid cube spinning around?

February 15 2010 at 4:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eideard

Coming soon to the App Store:

"Working as a waiter, retail sales, convenience store clerk? We have just the gadget for you to build your nest egg for early retirement."

February 15 2010 at 3:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Eideard's comment
Calexifan

Why are some people so paranoid about credit card fraud? Have they never heard the term "chargeback"?

February 15 2010 at 6:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bGreen

We are part of the Square beta test. Our company, bGreen (www.bgreenlifestyle.com), received the Square last week, and we have to say, it's really really awesome. So easy, so fast, and so convenient. Everyone we've showed it to has been blown away. You can watch our video demo (with pretty good sound...sorry TUAW) right here: http://bit.ly/bgreensq.

February 15 2010 at 3:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to bGreen's comment
homan2

Great video - the photo & GPS features are really nice too - cut down on fraud with the former and extrapolate the location/time data to plan your sales routes accordingly. I could see this being huge with food trucks and donation solicitations.

Hope they have enough controls in check though to prevent fraud, though I guess that right off the bat it's more secure then paypal, if a physical card is required, but less so if you can just key in CC #s on a fresh merchant account.

February 15 2010 at 4:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
novdoom

The app also allows you to key in the CC number instead of scanning, and Square has also said a chip-based reader is in the works for the future.

February 15 2010 at 12:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to novdoom's comment
Matt J

Generally, keying in a number for a transaction is forbidden by credit card companies if the physical card is present. That is, it is allowed only for internet or phone transactions.

February 15 2010 at 12:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
lariosme

Whats the deal w/ the public beta? I read a few days ago that it was open, but I see nowhere to register for Square, just email if you're interested.

February 15 2010 at 12:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ed

Indeed, haven't swiped my card for maybe 5 years or more? Get with the program USA!

February 15 2010 at 12:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Lionel

While in the rest of the world, we moved on to the more secure chip-based credit cards, therefore rendering this little device useless in most of the technological world. :-)

February 15 2010 at 12:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
gib

Steve...

Even if you drop the audio, people can make out your email by looking at him typing it in on the iPhone keyboard. Might want to work that out.

February 15 2010 at 12:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to gib's comment
Justin

I for one notice that too.

CONSULTANTS!

February 26 2010 at 4:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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