Square Inc. is expanding beyond mobile card acceptance with a new service that allows consumers to initiate payments through a mobile app.
The San Francisco startup, headed by Twitter Inc. co-founder Jack Dorsey, on Monday announced the addition of the Card Case feature, which lets customers of Square merchants pay through an app using credit or debit card information they have earlier used with the retailer.
The service works in conjunction with Square Register, another new tool that lets merchants process card transactions, track cash purchases, generate receipts and other activities using Apple Inc.'s iPad. Square Register works with the existing card swipe wedge that Square distributes for use with the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and mobile phones running on Google Inc. Android devices.
Until now, Square's service has been geared primarily toward expanding the type of merchants that can accept card payments. Card Case is the Visa Inc.-backed company's first major step at offering a consumer payment service.
"We've always wanted to improve and enhance … the entire payment experience from beginning to end," Keith Rabois, the chief operating officer of Square, said in an interview on Monday. "We're going to continually improve that experience for both buyers and sellers."
After using a payment card at a merchant that uses Square Register, consumers may receive a text message invitation to install Square's app on their smartphone. Those consumers can use the feature, which is initially available for the iPhone and will later be available for Android devices, to make future purchases from the card that was enrolled without handing over the physical card to merchants that use Square Register.
