Square payment system launches on iPad

An alternative mobile payment solution which is already available for the iPhone is Sage's Payment Boss (http://www.paymentboss.com). It doesn't require a dongle to be mailed to you, and it's suited for businesses who have an existing merchant account (though new merchant accounts can be opened through their partner). It calculates taxes, emails receipts, and supports multiple currencies.

The key difference between Square and Payment Boss is the integration with an invoicing software. With Payment Boss, I am able to track who paid for what product/service for which sales amount. This is all tracked in their free online invoicing software Billing Boss (http://www.billingboss.com). I've used merchant accounts in the past, and my bank statement never provided information on where the credit card sales came from. To my knowledge, Square would be similar.

The Payment/Billing Boss integration gives me a full set of information which allows me to provide better understanding of my clients and their purchases. Plus, I automatically build a database of my client details, and have access to their contact details whenever I need to launch a marketing campaign or find their address while I'm on the road.

The best part of the integration is that my accountant has access to all invoices I create and payments I receive. She just downloads the report, quickly upload all my data to her accounting software, and does the accounting for me. I don't have to worry about sending files to her.

I personally think Square is a great app, and I was pretty excited when I saw the videos. However, for a business which needs end-to-end tracking, other solutions like Payment Boss may be more suitable.

App is $9.95/month flat - no transaction fees, no dongle.

Full Disclosure: This author has been compensated by Sage. I am their Social Media Consultant but I was using their product well before Sage contracted me. They found me when I sent them an email with suggestions for Billing Boss!

The people who are angry should know that when you launch the iPad app, you still can't take credit card payments, because you need to activate cc processing with the dingle. The app also tells you that the dingle will take a month to ship. So right now, the app doesn't really do anything. I'm sure that when the dongle ships in a month, they will have the iPhone app out.

What is this app?

I get the feeling that like "mac kid" said, it's a controlled release. Limited Public "Post-Beta" testing. While I'm going to get an iPad, since it's EXACTLY what I need for my business, I was hoping for a more immediate iPhone solution. Oh well, I have 2 more weeks before my business opens. Hopefully the iPhone version launches before then, or I can afford an iPad...

i think the reason why they put it out on the ipad first is because there will not be a million people trying to run transactions all at once. yes apple sold a lot of ipads, but it does not equal the amount of iphone out there. this is a good step to see how their back of the house software works!! iphone version very soon!!

I really want this app for my iPhone also. Even if I buy an iPad to use the square payment system, what if the iPad gets dropped and breaks. How do I ring up my customers? At least I could pull out my iPhone and save the day. I think they'll bring out an iPhone version eventually. Crosses fingers

Bummer, I thought the iPhone/iPod Touch was a priority, guess not compared to the iPad, which just came out vs the millions of iPhone/iPod Touch users?

Square:
iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone

IPhoney

iPad
if they don’t come out with a iPhone dongle/unit, they suck.

Months of use your iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone iPhone to do credit cards
now iPhoney
Buy a iPad and you can use my dongle
Dongle this Square!
Not a happy camper!

Awesome app, but are they serious??? Where's the iPhone one that has been in Beta for the past year? As a merchant, I have to buy an ipad to use their service???

I hope they launch the iphone one shortly.

Hmmm, I thought it would automatically work on the iPhone as well, but it doesn't. In fact if you try to access it via the iPhone you can't find it easily. I persisted. And found the link, but it would not download. I know, I know. It's just for the iPad. But I did so want it for the iPhone. The iPhone is what I'm going to take to my coffee shop with me, not always the iPad. So it doesn't actually make sense to launch it solely for the iPad.