Square Inc. is open to the idea of letting third parties distribute its mobile card-acceptance technology, according to executives.
"We're still trying to figure out distribution," said Jack Dorsey, the San Francisco company's chief executive, during a speech July 21 at the Midwest Acquirers Association conference in Schaumburg, Ill.
Square's software operates on Apple Inc.'s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices, in conjunction with a square-shaped card reader that plugs into the devices' audio jacks. Square also has a version for smartphones that use Google Inc.'s Android operating system.
In June, Square delayed the rollout of its card reader to address risk concerns and hardware shortages, and Dorsey said it is close to resolving the issue.
A pilot test of Square's latest credit card processing model, which includes revised risk assessments that consider individuals' online presence and longevity as a way to identify them, will wrap up in a few weeks, and Square should begin deploying card readers soon afterward, Dorsey said.
The test includes merchants in San Francisco, New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles and other locations. Dorsey would not say how many merchants are participating.
Dorsey also confirmed that Square will aggregate its transactions, much like PayPal Inc. does, and has received approval from Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. to do so.
