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Square mobile payment system gets simpler pricing, keeps angular shape
If you hate doing math and you run a small business then surely you've looked longingly at mobile credit card systems like Square's longingly. No handling of cash certainly would make life easier, but Square's system of fees and surcharges weren't exactly easy to figure out themselves. Now the company has simplified things, dropping the $.15 per-transaction fee for swiped purchases, charging a simple 2.75 percent on each transaction. If, however, that transaction is being made without swiping the actual card the $.15 transaction fee sadly comes back, but the percentage fee has gone down from 4.0 percent to 3.5. So, a little less of your handiwork will be absorbed by the man. [Thanks, Brent]
Organized ring charged with using fake credit cards at Apple Stores
Prosecutors in New York City have charged 27 people with organizing and running a ring of credit card fraud that was used to rip off Apple Stores around the United States. The thieves were able to buy over $1 million of Apple gear by obtaining stolen credit card numbers and manufacturing IDs and credit cards to go along with them, which were then used to simply purchase computers and devices straight from Apple. Those devices were then sold through a fence in Brooklyn, NY. NPR also says that three guns, $300,000 in cash and various bank accounts were seized during the investigation, which apparently went on so long that even when the original ringleader was arrested and placed in jail, he passed messages to his girlfriend about how to keep the ring going. The charges filed involve incidents from June 2008 up to last December, so like a lot of other Apple-related thefts we've seen, the items "purchased" were likely iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. [via MacObserver]
McDonald's to start accepting contactless Visa payments in all UK restaurants by this summer
The UK already has a big old investment in contactless technology with London's rather successful Oystercard travel scheme, but now the whole Kingdom can get a taste for airborne payments thanks to a new initiative from McDonald's and Visa. The two giants of commerce are uniting to bring NFC tech to all of the former's 1,200 fast food restaurants within the UK, allowing hungry Brits to pay for meals costing up to £15 by simply waving their credit card in front of the till Obi-wan-style. Of course, the real excitement of such large-scale NFC proliferation is in the potential to use those automated tills with your Nexus S (which has an NFC chip built right in) and other devices coming up this year that look set to feature the technology. So yeah, Visa had better be working hard on putting together some mobile apps. [Thanks, Steve]
Visa releases iPhone app with discounts, merchant directory
TechCrunch reports that payment processor Visa has released an iPhone app in the US* that gives shoppers access to some 50 merchants. Visa's new app comes with two services you can use, Offers and Locator. Offers: Receive merchant discounts and special offers directly on your iPhone. The offers are stored on your iPhone and can be redeemed at physical retail locations, online, or by telephone. You can select your preferences for the types of offers that are sent to your iPhone. Locator: Access maps and directions to nearby ATMs that accept Visa and retailers with special offers. Visa's app was developed in conjunction with the UK-based mobile banking firm Monetize. With financial firms showing growing interest in iOS apps, there's no reason an app couldn't eventually replace the plastic in your wallet. For now, Visa's iOS app isn't revolutionary. It's more of a cautionary "dip your toe into the app pool to see how the water feels" approach. *According to iTunes, it was released on November 24.
Square card reader: Now anyone in the US can accept credit cards
Headline updated to acknowledge that Square is a US-only service for now. Remember the Square card reader and payment service from our first hands-on video in January at Macworld Expo 2010? Square makes it possible for anyone, whether an individual or small business, to take payments via credit card. Shortly after Macworld Expo, I signed up for the service; I finally received my free credit card reader yesterday. The reader is a tiny square box that plugs into the audio port on iOS devices or other smartphones. Rather than using an expensive (usually $75 or more) "sled" reader like those used in Apple's retail stores, Square developed a reader that did not use the dock connector or need the blessing of Apple's "Made For iPhone" certification. These readers have no moving parts and are so inexpensive to manufacture that Square can give them away. Anyone can sign up for the service and get a free reader. If you want to be able to split a bar tab with friends and have them pay you via credit card, you can get a Square account and reader, and then simply swipe your friends cards to get paid. Square takes 2.75% of the transaction + 15¢ per swipe if you can get your drunk friends to provide their finger-written signatures, and 3.5% + 15¢ if they don't sign. Does that sound like a lot? To an individual, it might, but to small businesses who are used to hefty sign-up fees, monthly account minimums, merchant account fees, and higher percentages, Square is a hell of a deal. %Gallery-106879%
QuickPay announces ROAMpay credit card swiper for Android, BlackBerry, iOS
We've seen our fair share iPhone-based credit card payment systems, but we both know that those aren't the only handsets people do business with. ROAMpay from QuickPay Merchant Services is a device agnostic card swiper with apps available for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. Actually, it seems to be a virtual cash register as well, letting you log cash transactions (and generate receipts for 'em) as well as offering real-time authorization for Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express (as long as you have a QuickPay account, of course). Ready to get into business? Hit up the source link. Otherwise, we have a fantastic video (and some pretty swell PR) for you after the break.
Square payment system is coming back in full force by 'late summer'
Unsurprisingly, given the small company and big ambitions behind the project, the Square mobile payments system got off to a shaky start earlier this year. Hardware shortages were resolved relatively quickly, but setting up the proper fraud prevention infrastructure without transactional limits -- which, shockingly, were disfavored by merchants -- threatened to shelve the little credit card reader for a long while. Not to worry, though, as today the Wall Street Journal has word that Square is looking to be back in business, kicking ass and taking card numbers, before the summer is through. We're now at an advanced stage of said season, so it shouldn't be too long before those dongle-assisted microtransactions start flowing again.
Square delays reader distribution, says it's examining transaction limits
Two weeks back at WWDC, Square told us that the company was "catching up with demand" of its little plastic credit card reader for the iPhone, and that it would "be there really soon." But it looks like things won't quite "be there" as soon as they thought. They've decided to delay the mass roll-out of the devices, with Jack Dorsey telling users that the company "released parts of Square before they were fully baked." That coincides with what our readers were saying in the comments on the original interview -- that the reader devices were taking a long time to be shipped out to users. Dorsey also agreed with the other issue our commenters brought up (that the service's transaction limits, which Square originally put in place to counteract fraud, are too low), and said that those limits would be addressed soon. Dorsey doesn't say how "soon" that may be -- there's still no ETA on when the readers will go out, and Square is still working on how exactly it will change or update those transaction limits. Basically, there is no fix in sight for those frustrated by the company so far. So it looks like Square isn't quite where it wants to be yet. But then again, think about the problems it's having: it can't keep up with demand for free readers, and people want to transfer even more money through the service. Those are pretty good problems to have. Square is definitely taking its time while working out the kinks, but the fact that it just can't keep up with demand is far from a condemnation of their business model.
WWDC 2010: Square's first steps
Square has already made a big splash with its launch -- the company, founded by Jim McKelvey, Jack Dorsey (formerly of Twitter), and Tristan O'Tierney, has created a system for accepting credit card payments through the iPhone. After a lot of secrecy and hype, the app launched on the iPad a while back. While the Square Reader (a little doohickey you can plug in the headphone port of an iOS device to swipe credit cards in) is still hard to find, we got one directly from O'Tierney himself at WWDC last week. It wasn't free -- he charged us a buck for it (and for the privilege of seeing a demo), taken by swiping my card through the reader, having me sign on the touchscreen, and emailing me a receipt in a process that was quick and painless. Well, mostly painless -- you have to hand it to a company whose demo is dependent on you giving them a buck. But I guess O'Tierney paid me back with his time -- you'll find an interview after the link below in which he tells me the weirdest use of the reader he's seen, what their biggest fraud issue has been so far, and what the company plans to do next.
Coming soon: Paying for stuff on Visa by waving your iPhone
You've probably seen contactless payment terminals before. They're used in many stores, restaurants, and other locations, with either a smart credit card containing a secure memory card or some sort of fob being used to make the payment. You just wave it at the terminal, and you've paid your bill. Visa and DeviceFidelity are working on a way to let iPhone users make payments by waving their iPhones in front of contactless payment terminals. They'll be offering an iPhone case with an embedded secure memory card that hosts Visa's payment application, Visa payWave. Any place you find a Visa contactless payment terminal, there will also be a potential spot for iPhone users to pay for goods or services using their Visa credit card account. Security is still important: Visa notes that the mobile payment application can be protected with a password, and that users will have to treat the case as if it were a credit card, calling the bank if it gets lost or stolen. Market trials of this service are expected to start this summer. It's an interesting proposal, but we'll have to see what the case looks like. And of course it's only for Visa customers so far -- customers of other card companies will have to figure out their own solutions.
Square used for fundraiser payments at SxSW
Square is a very cool piece of hardware for the iPhone and other smartphones; when combined with the Square service, you can accept credit card payments right on your iPhone. TechCrunch reports that charity:water used Square at SxSW to collect donations, and other uses are already cropping up; flower carts and political fundraisers, for instance. If you haven't seen it in action, check out our in-person walkthrough from Macworld Expo, or the official YouTube video demonstration. The demo features Adam Lisagor (creator of Birdhouse for iPhone and part of my favorite podcast You Look Nice Today) and Jason Permenter, who walk through a very simple real-life scenario: what do you do if you want to sell something, like a couch, to someone who wants to pay with a credit card? Square not only makes it possible to do that, but it adds some cool features such as showing a picture of the buyer and seller on the iPhone to verify their identity. Square was born after Jim McKelvey couldn't sell a piece of art because he couldn't accept a credit card, a process that has traditionally been complicated and expensive. Part of Square's vision has included charitable giving, where a donation of 1¢ is made from every transaction to a cause of your choice. When I was growing up, using a credit card meant that the clerk had to reach under the counter, pull out a device where you would carefully line up the credit card, then put special receipt paper on it, including two carbon copies (remember carbon paper?), they would push the handle across the device and it would push the numbers on the card into the carbon paper, then they would hand it to you to sign, and then the clerk would take it back, pull out one of the carbon copies, and hand it to you. If you were standing in line behind someone paying with a credit card, you'd react much the same way people do these days if someone pays with a check. Nowadays those PIN-pad credit card readers are in all the major stores and at gas stations. Being able to accept credit cards is almost a necessity in today's world. Square could give individuals and small businesses the same opportunity, using a device that millions of people are already carrying around in their pockets. Check it out; even if you aren't a seller, you may want to sign up for Square to be registered as a buyer once it's out of private beta.
Kevin Rose demos Square payment system for iPhone
Digg's Kevin Rose is the newest investor in this Square iPhone payment system that we've been seeing lately, and as you can see above, he's demo'ed the unit for everyone over on YouTube. It works as we've heard: there's just an addon that you plug into the iPhone's headphone jack, and then an app takes information from the swiper, and transmits it out for an actual credit card payment, with a finger doing the signature. The app, as Kevin says, will even upload GPS information, so you can make sure that payments are happening in the right place. Unfortunately, what he doesn't mention is the actual price to get payments up and running. Square's website says that there's "no contracts, monthly fees, or hidden costs," but they've got to pay for the system somehow, so you'd expect there to be a fee for setup, for the accessory, and then a fee per charge through the system, but we haven't heard what any of those will end up being yet. Depending on how steep they are, this could be a gamechanger -- accepting payments anywhere, any time, with an online record and receipt for each one, no cash involved. Would be incredible for small business owners, and probably a lot of other sales folks, too.
Mophie iPhone credit card reader coming to a CES near you
iPhone accessory maker and recession antidote regular Mophie is about to make the most buzzworthy move of its short history by offering a credit card reader and accompanying transaction app for the Apple handset. Positioned as a direct competitor to Jack Dorsey's Square iPhone Payment System, Mophie's solution looks to be integrated into an iPhone case -- making it possible to keep the reader on permanently, albeit at a slight cost to your device's aesthetics. The decidedly cube-shaped Square system has a less ergonomic design, but we suspect that the winner (if either of these two succeeds) will be primarily determined by the usability of the app and affordability of the service. Look out for more info to emerge at some point during the maelstrom that will be CES 2010.
Credit card terminals for iPhone
It's no secret that the iPhone is much more than just a smartphone. Apple has even started giving iPhones to Apple Store Concierge employees to schedule appointments and manage the store. The ability to complete mobile transactions with credit card terminals is a great use of the iPhone for employees on the go or companies that do home or office calls. Like most applications in the iTunes App Store, there is no shortage of alternatives available for you to try. Here's a roundup of some of the most popular credit card terminals for iPhone. Credit Card Terminal [iTunes Link] - $0.99 This app is pretty awesome. So awesome in fact, that it was featured internationally in an Apple commercial. The 99 cent application offers a (very) cheap alternative to expensive terminals and hardware. With a clean and easy to use interface, users can enter credit card information, complete transactions, and even view and refund past sales. The app also gives you the ability to collect customer information. The developer even offers telephone and email support and will walk you through setup. Billing: Credit Card Terminal [iTunes Link] - $19.99 Another "easy to use" credit card terminal that is guaranteed to help make transactions easier. Sporting a pretty cool, and somewhat different kind of interface, the $20 application makes setting up a sale as simple as tapping a button. One cool feature offered in this version is the ability to get a customer's signature. Some screenshots from the featured applications: %Gallery-73813%
Square iPhone Payment System turns your phone into credit card reader
Everyone and their uncle Steve uses WinCE terminals to execute cashless transactions these days, and while you'd expect Apple to remedy that right quick, the Square credit card reader has beaten it to the punch. Plugging into the headphone jack of either an iPhone or iPod Touch, the dongle takes a swipe of your card, the seller enters the purchase data and you do your best penless John Hancock on the touchscreen. After that, a receipt is delivered by email and the app retains geotagging data for each transaction. Spiffy, right? Well, there is a surcharge to pay, and it's still in early alpha testing in New York, but should it prove popular, there's no reason not to see this appendage make an appearance on Android or WinMo phones as well. Rest easy, Gotham, we're sure nothing could possibly go wrong.[Thanks, Derek]
Mythbusters RFID hacking episode canned by credit card company lawyers
Although it's no secret that RFID is easily hacked (see: train passes, passports, credit cards, one billion other cards, etc.) it's still not necessarily common knowledge, and it sounds like the major credit card companies want to keep it that way -- according to Adam Savage, Mythbusters was all set to do a show exposing the weak security behind most RFID implementations but was shut down by lawyers from "American Express, Visa, Discover, and everybody else... [who] absolutely made it really clear to Discovery that they were not going to air this episode." Since Discovery is an ad-supported channel, it's not surprising that it backed down, but we'd say that the credit card industry would be far better served spending money on actually improving security rather than lawyering up and trying to keep consumers in the dark. Video after the break.[Via Wired]
Steam hacker caught in 'high tech' raid
Back in April, a website used by Valve to manage its Steam-related Cyber Cafe business was hacked. As we reported then, the hacker, known as "MaddoxX," claimed to have gained access to a variety of sensitive data, including credit card numbers. Well, the jig is finally up. A special Dutch police unit, "Team High Tech Crime" (certainly somehow related to G.I. Joe), nabbed the culprit in the town of Maastricht on June 24. Dutch authorities report that he hacked an Activision server prior to the Valve job, obtaining a pre-release version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. He is also charged with stealing nearly 50,000 credit card numbers from a UK-based ticket sales service, using some of them to buy electronics and play online poker. In lieu of a prison sentence, we suggest that "MaddoxX" be assigned to a work release program at Aperture Science. [Via ITExaminer]
RFID credit cards easily hacked with $8 reader
The RFID hacks keep coming fast and furious -- hot the heels of that Mifare / Oyster Card exploit, the crew at BoingBoing TV has posted up a little demo of how easy cracking the RFID encryption on an American Express card can be. All it takes is an $8 dollar reader easily available on eBay, some software, and the courage to walk around with a laptop waving plastic boxes at people's butt pockets, but developer Pablos Holman says he's hoping to develop a newer version that will allow him to be a little more discreet. The root of the problem is apparently the fact that the system uses local decryption rather than sending card info to a secure data center, but either way we've been worried about this for a long time -- we're sticking to loose change and the barter system from now on. Video after the break.
The Game of Life follows Monopoly, goes plastic
In a day and age when children are practically bombarded from birth with ads extolling the virtues of consumerism, we're not sure that it's the best idea to be thrusting credit cards into their impressionable little hands (debit cards, maybe), but that hasn't stopped Hasbro's Parker Brothers from trading in paper for plastic in some of their most classic games. The latest title to get Visa-fied -- and the first to hit US shores, as that special edition of Monopoly was UK only -- is everyone's favorite Game of Life, which as we all know takes players through a thrilling journey from college to career to fabulous riches or abject poverty. As with Monopoly: UK, stacks of cash are replaced by a "personal assistant and electronic banking unit" -- in this case known as the LIFEPod (attention Apple legal!) -- but this time the gameplay itself is also getting a facelift, with the so-called "Twists and Turns" edition dividing the board into four "life paths," ditching the old spinner, and perhaps most significantly, crowning a winner not by wealth alone but by a combination of loot and "life points." Also like the "hipper" version of Monopoly, T and T will sport a higher price tag than the regular game ($35 versus $13) when it goes on sale this summer, although you do get a bonus copy of Visa's "award-winning financial literacy curriculum," Practical Money Skills for Life, which debunks such widely-held myths as the one that "there's no such thing as instant gratification" -- well kids, with a Visa card and a five figure spending limit, there sure as heck is!
Manchester man uses DAP to siphon cash from ATMs
While sniffing out ATM info has been used by tricksters criminals for years, a Manchester-based bloke was trafficking private bank information from various cards to illegally purchase goods -- with the help of DAPs, no less. Although your evil twin could manage to reprogram an ATM to disperse 300 percent more cash than it really should, this fellow secretly attached an (unsurprisingly anonymous) "MP3 player" to the backs of free-standing cash machines in "local bars, bingo halls, and bowling alleys." The device recorded the tones from transactions, which were then decoded and "turned into information used to clone new credit cards." The fellow learned his savvy computing skills from "a friend in Cambridge," and was oddly not caught jacking cash or throwing down on a new HDTV; rather, police caught on to his scheming when they located a counterfeit bank card in his vehicle during a routine traffic stop, which led them back to his presumably disclosing home. While we applaud the ingenuity, the motives are certainly below traditional moral standards, but this certainly isn't the first (nor the last) criminal offense involving DAPs.