The idea of Square came to market in early 2010 with a very compelling value proposition: give everyone the chance to process credit card transactions.
When a credit or a debit card was swiped through a small magnetic card reader, it read the data and converted it into an audio signal.
The handset microphone picked up the audio and routed it to Square's app on the phone.
From there the encrypted data was transmitted using either Wi-Fi or a 3G Internet connection to back-end severs, which in turn, communicated with the payment networks to complete the transactions.
Square helped fuel interest in mobile payments by turning the iPhone into a cash register with this matchbook-sized credit card reader that plugged into the iPhone and automated the entire process.
Customers swiped their credit card onto the phone-attached card reader, signed the phone touchscreen with a finger or stylus, and got an e-mail or a text with a receipt.
After the payment was processed, money was deposited into merchant's bank account.
Square's customers included food trucks, hairdressers, small retailers, restaurants, and taxicabs, and the service lured them due to its simple software and its flat 2.
75 percent transaction fee.
The initial goals of Square were rather modest: help small businesses and individual merchants who were cut out of the mainstream payments business due to their inability to accept credit cards.
As merchants started taking more and more payments, they became more confident and more sophisticated about what features they needed, and they started asking Square for more tools.
The iPad was just emerging on the scene, providing more real estate than the iPhone, and that got Square thinking about providing a complete point-of-sale (POS) solution rather than simply a reader for small businesses and individuals.
Dorsey saw an opportunity to revamp the whole payment experience.
So Square began giving small vendors the tools to make intelligent decisions with the same sort of inventory management, sales data and analytics that their larger competitors had already been enjoying.
For mobile users, Square launched Pay with Square, previously known as Card Case, which people carried on their phones; it allowed them to track their entire shopping history as well as build loyalty with stores.
Open the case, take out the card and there would be a list of everything a mobile user had bought from a particular vendor.
Pay with Square was also the upstart's customer-focused app for iOS and Android that allowed mobile users to pay handsfree at Square-enabled merchants and provided them the ability to discover nearby Square merchants.
When mobile users walked into a store, they could simply give their name at the register and the merchant could perform a seamless transaction without the customer ever having to pull out a phone.
Besides convenience, it helped establish a subconscious emotional connection between the merchant and the customer.
The apps like Pay with Square manifested the company's vision of one-click shopping experience for the real world.
When a credit or a debit card was swiped through a small magnetic card reader, it read the data and converted it into an audio signal.
The handset microphone picked up the audio and routed it to Square's app on the phone.
From there the encrypted data was transmitted using either Wi-Fi or a 3G Internet connection to back-end severs, which in turn, communicated with the payment networks to complete the transactions.
Square helped fuel interest in mobile payments by turning the iPhone into a cash register with this matchbook-sized credit card reader that plugged into the iPhone and automated the entire process.
Customers swiped their credit card onto the phone-attached card reader, signed the phone touchscreen with a finger or stylus, and got an e-mail or a text with a receipt.
After the payment was processed, money was deposited into merchant's bank account.
Square's customers included food trucks, hairdressers, small retailers, restaurants, and taxicabs, and the service lured them due to its simple software and its flat 2.
75 percent transaction fee.
The initial goals of Square were rather modest: help small businesses and individual merchants who were cut out of the mainstream payments business due to their inability to accept credit cards.
As merchants started taking more and more payments, they became more confident and more sophisticated about what features they needed, and they started asking Square for more tools.
The iPad was just emerging on the scene, providing more real estate than the iPhone, and that got Square thinking about providing a complete point-of-sale (POS) solution rather than simply a reader for small businesses and individuals.
Dorsey saw an opportunity to revamp the whole payment experience.
So Square began giving small vendors the tools to make intelligent decisions with the same sort of inventory management, sales data and analytics that their larger competitors had already been enjoying.
For mobile users, Square launched Pay with Square, previously known as Card Case, which people carried on their phones; it allowed them to track their entire shopping history as well as build loyalty with stores.
Open the case, take out the card and there would be a list of everything a mobile user had bought from a particular vendor.
Pay with Square was also the upstart's customer-focused app for iOS and Android that allowed mobile users to pay handsfree at Square-enabled merchants and provided them the ability to discover nearby Square merchants.
When mobile users walked into a store, they could simply give their name at the register and the merchant could perform a seamless transaction without the customer ever having to pull out a phone.
Besides convenience, it helped establish a subconscious emotional connection between the merchant and the customer.
The apps like Pay with Square manifested the company's vision of one-click shopping experience for the real world.
SHARE
