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Nothing. Square further propagates the status quo (plastic cards). There's no disruption involved. That's why Visa is an investor.
by thinkcomp 15y ago
Nothing. Square further propagates the status quo (plastic cards). There's no disruption involved. That's why Visa is an investor.
- roc 15y agoIt looks more like a trojan horse to me. If they become the new merchant-interface, there's nothing stopping them from offering an alternate payment mechanism that doesn't rely on credit or debit cards.
- sliverstorm 15y agoNothing stopping them- until Visa buys them.
- goatforce5 15y agoBuilding the technology that could support Visa/MC/Amex alternatives and the userbase that gives it critical mass is probably the best way to get bought out by Visa/MC/Amex at an inflated price. No one says they actually have to ship their alternative payment system.
- jes5199 15y agoI'm an engineer at Square, so I can neither confirm or deny such speculation ... but in an interview with Wired, CEO Jack said "People understand credit cards. They know exactly what to expect from them. They’re used everywhere. But Square is payment-device agnostic. It doesn’t matter how you pay. Some of our users accept only cash." http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/05/mf_qadorsey/all/1 http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/05/mf_qadorsey/all/1
- thinkcomp 15y agoWhy not accept FaceCash then? The rate is 1.5%, much lower than what you charge now.
- iloveponies 15y agoWell, whatever they offer it won't be NFC.
- sundae79 15y agoIt can't. They still have to deal with acquirers, credit card issuers, and banks. No escaping that.
- r0s 15y agoBesides their existing partners and infrastructure.
- benatkin 15y agoThey're disrupting cash register manufacturers, not card issuers.
- jaxn 15y agoThey are still a long way from that.
- sundae79 15y agoSo does that mean for example starbucks will buy iphones and ipads and pay monthly fee for data plans and use iphone as their cash register?
- daxelrod 15y agoStarbucks already has wifi. Don't most payment processors use some sort of Internet connection these days?
- chopsueyar 15y agoI would hope they are connected via a network cable, not wifi.
- khafra 15y agoYou hope the iPhone or iPad doing the payment processing with the Square device is connected via network cable? I'm afraid I have some disturbing news for you.
- chopsueyar 15y agoYou hope the iPhone or iPad doing the payment processing with the Square device is connected via network cable? No. I was replying to this... Starbucks already has wifi. Don't most payment processors use some sort of Internet connection these days?
- benatkin 15y ago
- phil 15y agoThat's one way to look at it. Another is that Visa believes that Square is a threat, thinks they may be successful and has invested to mitigate that threat, get visibility into their activities, and so on.