Tag: mobile payments

This purchase will open up the opportunity for smartphone transactions in food delivery.

Caviar, a startup business that provides meal deliveries from high end restaurants, has now announced that it has been acquired by mobile payments company, Square, broadening the opportunities available to both organizations.

This will provide people who order their meals through the service with a new way to pay.

The option offered by Caviar, itself, is quite appealing to many consumers, who would like to have prepared gourmet dishes delivered to their offices or homes, as opposed to the quick delivery options that are currently available. That said, the acquisition by Square will bring an entirely new level of technology to the service, as these customers will be able to use mobile payments to be able to purchase their meals.

The acquisition by the mobile payments company is expected to be a deal worth about $90 million.

While Square started out as a company founded by Jack Dorsey (of Twitter fame) and Jim McKelvey in 2009, that provided card reader dongles that turned smartphones and tablets into devices that could process transactions, it has progressed quite a distance since then. The company is always working to expand itself, as its revenue margins are quite slim (at 2.75 percent per transaction) even when taking into account that over 50,000 restaurants use the service. Last year, the company lost $100 million, and it is believed to be continuing to blast its way through cash.

A Yankee Group senior analyst, Jordan McKee, explained that “Initially Square’s business model focused on the low volume merchant, so scaling is certainly very difficult.” He went on to say that “Now, we’ve seen Square trying to find ways to generate sustainable revenues.”

As a part of this effort Square has spent the last year launching a number of additional mobile payments tools and services in order to better serve its client base as it opens up new streams of revenue. Among them, are Square Capital, which provides merchants with cash advances in the form of an interest loan, and Square Cash, which allows for rapid money transfers via email.

OpenTable is getting ready to expand into new markets later this year

OpenTable is a mobile payments program that was first announced in early February by a company of the same name. The company has been experimenting with the program for some time, evaluating its viability as a comprehensive mobile commerce service. Thus far, OpenTable has proven to be quite useful and has received support from consumers and businesses alike. The program is designed to appeal to the food service industry, where mobile commerce is beginning to see more adoption.

Restaurants are looking for mobile-centric services

Restaurants are beginning to take steps to cater to mobile consumers. These consumers are looking for ways to use their smartphones and tablets to place orders and make payments in a way that is convenient to them. Convenience is one of the major appeals of mobile commerce and those in the food service industry are looking to provide effective services that highlight this convenience.

OpenTable plans to be available in 20 large cities by the end of the year

OpenTable has announced that it is expanding its services to New York. A number of restaurants in the state will begin making use of the mobile payments program and the company believes that its program will be put to use in 20 large cities throughout the U.S. by the end of the year. OpenTable will facilitate mobile payments for those visiting restaurants that are using the program. In some cases, consumers will be able to make payments directly from their smartphones. Some restaurants will provide a tablet device at the table, allowing customers to pay for their meals from through that device.

OpenTable to take advantage of its large consumer base in order to compete with other programs

OpenTable will be competing in a very crowded market. Mobile commerce services are becoming more common and many of these services are beginning to cater to the needs of the food service industry. In order to effectively compete, OpenTable is leveraging its already sizeable consumer base. The OpenTable application comes pre-installed on many smartphones, making it one of the most widely available, but not necessarily widely used, apps in the mobile commerce market.