Square Inc. on May 11 announced its much anticipated payment card-acceptance software application for Apple Inc.'s iPhone.
The free software, available via Apple's iTunes online store, follows a version the San Francisco-based company introduced in April for Apple's iPad (see related
Square has generated plenty of buzz since announcing late last year it would "revolutionize" the payments industry with a device that enables small merchants and even consumers to use mobile phones to accept cards (see related
But Square appears to have increased the service's merchant rates since April by adding a fee of 15 cents per transaction to the card-present rate of 2.75% of the sale and the card-not-present rate of 3.5%. A Square account has no setup costs or monthly fees.
Square did not respond to PaymentsSource inquiries by deadline.
The account sign-up process also mimics the information sought by other independent sales organizations by asking for a user's name, address, Social Security number and birth date to perform a credit check.
Square sets account limits that it may adjust once a user completes additional identity or credit-verification processes with the company, according to the terms of service posted on its website.
Square is listed on Visa Inc.'s list of registered ISOs.
