Square is a new and easy way to make payments on the go, no matter who you are. Square is for individuals and businesses alike with the ability to make payments with your iPhone, Android device, Blackberry and soon, iPad in less than 10 seconds.
Once you have created your account on Square’s site and load the app onto your device, you’re ready to go out and start charging people.
The process of making a payment is dead simple. When I first installed the beta, I was expecting a ton more legal mumbo-jumbo. Zippo, nothing! It’s as easy as entering your bank accounts routing number online and your on your way. To make the actual payment, its much like using a cash register. You enter in how much you are charging whomever, add an optional note or picture of what you are selling to him/her, then swipe their card via the Square device, which I have found to be very addicting! I can’t count how many times I’ve swiped my expired MasterCard just for fun.
Once you have swiped the credit card or debit card, they sign with their finger and have the option to add a tip. The tip can be a percentage or a flat-out amount, such as $1 or $2. You, the seller, can change the setting between percentage or by amount. They also have the option to send them selves a receipt via email. The receipt is a beautiful thing, compared to their less-beautiful, black on white, normal companions that you can get anywhere.
As you can see from the receipt above, Square donates a portion of every payment to charity. In this case, one cent was donated to charity:water. You can also see that this is their 5th purchase at Sightglass Coffee and the Google map of where the purchase was made.
As a seller, you only need one thing other than the application. The Square device. The device itself is about the size of 5 quarters stacked on top of each other. In other words, very, very tiny. The Square connects to your audio jack, so it is universal with multiple other devices and OS’es so you don’t need to buy a separate one for two different devices. If you swipe correctly, 95% of the time the read will go through correctly and clearly.
As of right now, Square is in private beta. Square co-founder Tristan O’Tierney (@tristan) is predicting that the Square application (for iPhone) should be on the App Store by the summer, and the device out for public consumption by that time. The price of the device is yet to be announced, but it will be cheap.
I have only two downsides to Square. People are very conscious about who/what they do with their credit/debit card and they may be skeptical when you pull out your phone to make a payment with their credit card. Also, since the device takes use of your audio jack, it blocks use of your speakers when the Square is plugged in. It is not a fault on the companies side. The iPhone OS has no way of knowing what is plugged in, so it assumes that it is a pair of headphones/earphones. Another thing it blocks is phone calls so if you pick up a call with the device plugged in, you cannot hear whomever you are talking to, which is also an OS problem. So if you plan on being a Square user, I would recommend only plugging in your Square when you are making a payment.
Square is the future of payments for businesses and regular people alike. The way I see it, the most popular uses of Square will be people paying back other friends, selling various items on craigslist, and selling things on the street, such as caricatures or food at a food cart. But it is obvious that it will explode and be the next big thing.
For more information on Square, you can visit their website at http://squareup.com or watch their introduction video below.
