One of the technologies and apps that is poised to really become disruptive in the mobile-meets-retail arena is Square. This is a payment service that combines a small $10 card reader with an iPhone app that allows you to turn your iPhone into a point-of-sale machine.
Now, Apple is going to feature the startup’s technology in their stores. After the huge coup they got when Steve Jobs showed it off in conjunction with the iPad 2, this is huge news and a gigantic marketing opportunity for the company.
The sale price for the little device is probably losing them money at $9.99 (minus Apple’s cut) and the app is free, so you have to ask where their income comes from.
It’s in the back-end. Using the device goes through Square’s card processing service (similar to PayPal, but made for point of sale) at 2.75% a pop. The company is already processing about $1 million a day, so that’s not too shabby.
Square was co-founded by Jack Dorsey of Twitter fame and has finished another round of funding ($27.5 million). Between that, their huge income potential, and this new boost from Apple, the startup is definitely poised to go big time in short order.
