6 ms·

PayPal, Apple, and Amazon are precisely the companies who would have the cash to acquire the company and the desire to do so. I see Square going to Apple so th

PayPal, Apple, and Amazon are precisely the companies who would have the cash to acquire the company and the desire to do so. I see Square going to Apple so that they can jump start whatever payments technology they're planning to unleash in the next year. Buying Square's merchants would be an excellent way to do that.

Johnie 13y ago
It's also good that their Square register is built on top of an iPad.
ksec 13y ago
At a valuation of a few billion? Tell me what Square could do and Apple cant with those few billions? Apple, as with its iPhone user base is large enough to offer its own Payment Network to complete with Visa and Mastercard. Although i dont see Apple wanting to do that either.
- argonaut 13y ago
  You overestimate the ability, dedication, vision, and internal political will of top tech companies to enter and dominate fields that are not their core focus. Remember MobileMe?
steven2012 13y ago
Why would Apple destroy their amazing profit margins by buying a company that has razor thin margins at best? There is no chance that Apple will buy Square, they are much more disciplined in terms of watching their financial numbers than that.
- ianhawes 13y ago
  Apple has amazing profit margins in their hardware business. Don't forget that they run iTunes and the App Store on razor thin margins and have made that work better than anyone else.
  - steven2012 13y ago
    Razor thin? You're terribly mistaken. They take 30% on iTunes and the App Store. Payments company take BASIS POINTS. If you can make 100 basis points, you're doing better than Square or Stripe, maybe even combined.
    - ianhawes 13y ago
      I'm not mistaken at all. Outside analysis has suggested that iTunes & App Store aren't all that profitable at all[1][2] because they still have to meet the minimum transactions for processing credit & debit cards, which includes a flat fee of up to 25 cents. [1] http://www.quora.com/Payment-Processing/How-does-Apple-do-payments-so-well?share=1 http://www.quora.com/Payment-Processing/How-does-Apple-do-pa... [2] http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/steve-jobs-tries-to-downplay-the-itunes-stores-profit/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/steve-jobs-tries-to...

Johnie 13y ago

It's also good that their Square register is built on top of an iPad.

ksec 13y ago

At a valuation of a few billion? Tell me what Square could do and Apple cant with those few billions? Apple, as with its iPhone user base is large enough to offer its own Payment Network to complete with Visa and Mastercard. Although i dont see Apple wanting to do that either.

argonaut 13y ago
You overestimate the ability, dedication, vision, and internal political will of top tech companies to enter and dominate fields that are not their core focus. Remember MobileMe?

steven2012 13y ago

Why would Apple destroy their amazing profit margins by buying a company that has razor thin margins at best? There is no chance that Apple will buy Square, they are much more disciplined in terms of watching their financial numbers than that.

ianhawes 13y ago
Apple has amazing profit margins in their hardware business. Don't forget that they run iTunes and the App Store on razor thin margins and have made that work better than anyone else.
- steven2012 13y ago
  Razor thin? You're terribly mistaken. They take 30% on iTunes and the App Store. Payments company take BASIS POINTS. If you can make 100 basis points, you're doing better than Square or Stripe, maybe even combined.
  - ianhawes 13y ago
    I'm not mistaken at all. Outside analysis has suggested that iTunes & App Store aren't all that profitable at all[1][2] because they still have to meet the minimum transactions for processing credit & debit cards, which includes a flat fee of up to 25 cents. [1] http://www.quora.com/Payment-Processing/How-does-Apple-do-payments-so-well?share=1 http://www.quora.com/Payment-Processing/How-does-Apple-do-pa... [2] http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/steve-jobs-tries-to-downplay-the-itunes-stores-profit/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/steve-jobs-tries-to...