3 ms·

VeriFone launches iPhone card acceptance hardware

12 points by pmikal 17y ago

pmikal 17y ago
This is what Square should have designed....
- rufo 17y ago
  Why? By designing their reader the way Square has, it drastically minimizes cost and opens the design so it works with most smartphones and even many laptops. I hope that screenshot isn't representative of their software, either... it looks horrendous.
  - pmikal 17y ago
    You think a card reader in a headphone jack is going to last long in a retail environment?
    - rufo 17y ago
      I leave my iPhone in my pocket with a headphone jack for hours at a time while walking/running/etc., and am ridiculously clumsy - I get the cable caught on doorknobs, go to sleep with earbuds on and have the headphone cable tugged out at odd angles, etc, without any apparent damage to the headphones or the iPhone. I've done this with every iPhone I've had since the first one, also, and the worst that's happened is an Apple Store Genius had to pull a bit of fuzz out of the bottom. I admit this is purely anecdotal evidence, but as long as the reader itself is built well I see no reason why Square's reader wouldn't hold up in a retail environment. If it really becomes a problem, there's no reason Square couldn't provide a reader similar to Verifone's. But with Square's method they get a ridiculously fast time to market across a wide variety of devices with far easier to manufacture devices and no lengthy Made for iPod approval times or worrying about supplies of iPod authentication chips from Apple.
    - wmf 17y ago
      No, but given Square's (inevitable) high fees I suspect it won't be used in high-volume retail anyway.
rit 17y ago
Apple is already using something similar (if not this device) in their stores. I noticed last week in the 5th Ave. Apple Store in NY that the guy had an iPod Touch with a card reader/barcode scasnner as opposed to the windows mobile devices they traditionally used for iPhone activation, etc. He remarked it's apple's goal to move completely to these, as the WinCE devices suck. Pretty cool, although you've also just introduced a fantastic portable card skimmer :)
- jonah 17y ago
  It doesn't look like Apple stores are using this one. As you mentioned it has a barcode scanner too. The sales drone didn't know details about it though. +1 for VeriFone building this.
  - cpr 17y ago
    http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/exclusive_look_at_apples_new_ipod_touch_based_easypay_checkout.html http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/exclusive_look... is what Apple's using. A bit clunky due to small manufacturing runs (no ability to super-shrink and amortize expensive R&D over millions of copies).
deleted 17y ago
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12 points by pmikal 17y ago

pmikal 17y ago

This is what Square should have designed....

rufo 17y ago
Why? By designing their reader the way Square has, it drastically minimizes cost and opens the design so it works with most smartphones and even many laptops. I hope that screenshot isn't representative of their software, either... it looks horrendous.
- pmikal 17y ago
  You think a card reader in a headphone jack is going to last long in a retail environment?
  - rufo 17y ago
    I leave my iPhone in my pocket with a headphone jack for hours at a time while walking/running/etc., and am ridiculously clumsy - I get the cable caught on doorknobs, go to sleep with earbuds on and have the headphone cable tugged out at odd angles, etc, without any apparent damage to the headphones or the iPhone. I've done this with every iPhone I've had since the first one, also, and the worst that's happened is an Apple Store Genius had to pull a bit of fuzz out of the bottom. I admit this is purely anecdotal evidence, but as long as the reader itself is built well I see no reason why Square's reader wouldn't hold up in a retail environment. If it really becomes a problem, there's no reason Square couldn't provide a reader similar to Verifone's. But with Square's method they get a ridiculously fast time to market across a wide variety of devices with far easier to manufacture devices and no lengthy Made for iPod approval times or worrying about supplies of iPod authentication chips from Apple.
  - wmf 17y ago
    No, but given Square's (inevitable) high fees I suspect it won't be used in high-volume retail anyway.

rit 17y ago

Apple is already using something similar (if not this device) in their stores. I noticed last week in the 5th Ave. Apple Store in NY that the guy had an iPod Touch with a card reader/barcode scasnner as opposed to the windows mobile devices they traditionally used for iPhone activation, etc. He remarked it's apple's goal to move completely to these, as the WinCE devices suck. Pretty cool, although you've also just introduced a fantastic portable card skimmer :)

jonah 17y ago
It doesn't look like Apple stores are using this one. As you mentioned it has a barcode scanner too. The sales drone didn't know details about it though. +1 for VeriFone building this.
- cpr 17y ago
  http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/exclusive_look_at_apples_new_ipod_touch_based_easypay_checkout.html http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/exclusive_look... is what Apple's using. A bit clunky due to small manufacturing runs (no ability to super-shrink and amortize expensive R&D over millions of copies).

deleted 17y ago

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