Preview of Square, A Credit Card Reader

At first, this little device might be confusing since it plugs into the iPhone’s headphone/microphone jack and it’s not a speaker or microphone; it’s a credit card reader. I’m assuming that it reads the magnetic strip on the card by creating tones/different frequencies and feeds them through the mic port and into the app that’s running. It doesn’t use a battery as far as I can tell either so it must draw power off the headphone jack. This is a bit different than most other readers we’ve seen. Others use the dock connection to connect the card reader.

Here are some features that are listed on the developers website. No release date yet.

– 0 to $60 in under 10 seconds. Start accepting payment cards immediately with Square. No contracts, monthly fees, or hidden costs. Effortlessly manage all the money you take with an easy and intuitive interface.
– Pay quickly, securely. Create a Square payer account to speed up and secure every payment. With photo verification, Square users can visually confirm you are the card holder.
– Swipe it. Read payment cards from any device with an audio input jack, including your mobile phone. Accepting payments has never been faster or more convenient.
– Get real rewards. If you frequent a place that accepts Square, we’ll let them know you’re a repeat customer. That 10th cappuccino may be on the house, no paper coffee card required.
– Text and email receipts. Lose the paper. As a payer, get your receipts sent to your email or mobile phone instantly and access them securely online. You can also use a text message to authorize every payment in real-time.
– Do well by doing good.Square will donate a penny of every transaction you take to a cause of your choice. Working together to better the world, one small step at a time.

Check out squareup.com/ for release information.

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