Do you own an iPhone, run a business and wish you had a way to accept credit card payments while on the road? If so, then the Square credit card payment system might just be what you’re looking for.
It’s not yet available in the market, but it’s already in its early alpha testing stage. When it does hit the market, it will turn your iPhone into a mobile credit card terminal for cashless transactions on the fly. A dongle which will serve as the card reader can be attached via the headphone jack while its corresponding app will allow you to enter the amount to be paid, and the buyer can also enter his/her signature here. The receipt will then be emailed to the buyer, hopefully in real time, while geotagging is used to record each transaction/payment. Do note, however, as is the case with most credit card payments, that there is a surcharge when this service is used .
So far, this is the first and only credit card payment facility/accessory for the iPhone we’ve seen since Apple confirmed 3rd party hardware support in iPhone 3.0. With this being the case, once made commercially available, we’re pretty optimistic of this new product and its chances of being a hit amongst people who are looking into making their iPhone an integral tool in their business.
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EB says:
This kind of hardware did not require the 3.0 3rd party support as far as I see, since it uses neither the Bluetooth stack nor the Dock connector, but rather the always available mic input. My guess is they started working on this LONG before 3.0 was even announced. I was expecting to see Dock Connector card readers (and expect that is what Apple will use in the stores so as they can get rid of those WinMo devices,) but this looks like a great solution!