Tag: square

Square will begin supporting Apple Pay and Bitcoin through its new register service

Square, a prominent mobile payments firm in North America, recently announced that it will be registering its service with Apple Pay. The firm is yet another prominent entity in the mobile commerce space that has begun showing support for the Apple Pay platform. Square is not limiting itself to showing support for Apple Pay, of course, and has also announced that it is considering supporting Bitcoin, a somewhat controversial digital currency.

Register service aims to accept any form of payment that will become available in the future

The firm is currently developing a register service that will allow merchants to accept traditional payments, checks, credit cards, and digital currency. Eventually, the service is meant to accept any form of payment that could emerge in the future as a way to help merchants connect with the ever evolving nature of mobile technology and how mobile payments are influencing consumer behavior. Supporting Bitcoin is one of the first steps in this endeavor.

Bitcoin continues to gain traction despite volatile nature

Bitcoin is somewhat controversial because of its unregulated nature. The lack of regulation makes Bitcoin somewhat volatile in terms of value. The value of this digital currency often fluctuates with little reason. At the beginning of 2014, a single Bitcoin was worth approximately $1,000. Now, however, a single coin is worth $435. The value of this currency changes based on various factors, most of which are impossible to control. Because of its volatile nature, some merchants avoid Bitcoin, but others are beginning to embrace it in order to better accommodate digital consumers.

Square does not see Apple Pay as competition because they both accomplish different tasks

Square notes that Apple Pay is not considered to be a competition for Square. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square, claims that Apple Pay is only a platform that enables mobile payments, while Square processes these payments. Square does not build a payment device, but rather serves as a payment processor for organizations that are involved in the mobile commerce space.

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.