Mobile wallet squared
The mobile wallet developments are coming thick and fast. This latest one concerns Squared - a company created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, which has been selling a mobile credit card reader dongle, app and service for a while, which allows people to accept card payments on their phones.
The latest launches from Square are the apps: Register and Card Case, designed for merchants and consumers respectively. "Cash registers and credit card terminals are relics of an expensive, complicated, and impersonal commercial transaction system," said Dorsey. "With Register and Card Case, we're transforming everyday transactions between buyers and sellers into something special."
But what are they? Register is described as "...a beautiful, full featured, touch-enabled point of sale and checkout solution." Features include a directory - to enable businesses to be found; menus - which enables them to advertise offers, etc; tabs - instant payments; and receipts - electronic receipts.
Here's what Square has to say about Card Case: "Card Case, a feature of the Square app for iPhone and Android, enables customers to access Directory and Menus, and open Tabs at their favorite merchants, making purchasing instant and effortless. Card Case can be activated through a text message invitation from Square after making a credit card purchase at a participating merchant."
It's all still a bit unclear to us. There's a video, but Square hasn't made it embeddable. You can see it here. The iPad app is already available, but this is very much a US-specific thing for now. It does' however, provide a glimpse of what may be to come in the mobile wallet world.
