8 Ways Mobile-Pay Rivals Challenge Square
Published August 31, 2012 2:10 PM
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Updated October 20, 2016 10:46 AM
1 Min Read
Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Square CEO Jack Dorsey (Image: Bloomberg News)
Nelson Ching/Bloomberg
Square's Success
Square's partner Starbucks is known for its mobile-payments savvy, and the coffee chain's CEO, Howard Schultz, is joining Square's board . As for Square's pricing, merchants began switching to the flat-fee option the day it was announced. (Image: Bloomberg News)
PayPal
Square's mobile wallet allows consumers to authenticate payments by transmitting their photo to the merchant upon entering a store. PayPal does this too , and it has begun promoting this feature heavily, including a prominent push at this year's Telluride Film Festival. (Image: ShutterStock )
LevelUp
$275 a month is still no small change. SCVNGR's LevelUp went free in July , dropping its 2% transaction fee to instead earn revenue on a loyalty and incentive system it ties to its mobile-payments app.
VeriFone/Ingenico
Legacy players VeriFone and Ingenico produce their own mobile card readers to address the needs of smaller merchants. These vendors say they can provide an easy transition to conventional terminals as small businesses grow. (Image: ShutterStock )
Intuit
Intuit is talking up its ability to link its GoPayment mobile card reader with its QuickBooks Point of Sale software. Intuit is betting that users will not want to switch to Square if it means giving up their mobile reader's connection to QuickBooks.
Underbanked
And for those very small operations, Intuit also offers a prepaid card account for depositing funds earned from GoPayment sales. This allows even the underbanked to accept mobile payments. (Image: ShutterStock )
mPowa
London-based mPowa entered the U.S. market by enabling merchants to tie its mobile card reader and software to an existing payment system . (Image: ShutterStock )
Groupon
Daily-deals provider Groupon reportedly is branching into payments with a device it is testing that would undercut Square's standard transaction fee. (Image: ShutterStock )
ISO Support
Square sells its products directly, leaving independent sales organizations out of the process. One ISO, PowerPay LLC, launched its own mobile card-acceptance system called AppCharge . Another, Collective Point of Sale Solutions Ltd., began distributing a mobile-payment acceptance device that other ISOs can sell. (Image: ShutterStock )
