Hasta La Gadget!

Square‘s Jack Dorsey is keen on wearables but cautious on Glass, arguing smart glasses aren’t likely to offer legitimate value to wearers for another decade or so. “Glasses are very compelling and I think it’s an amazing technology” Dorsey told the NYTimes, “but I just can’t imagine my mom wearing them right now. What is the value of Glass?”

While augmented reality wearables like Google’s headset are technically impressive, Dorsey expects more mundane examples of body-worn gadgetry to do better in the mass market. Part of that, the mobile payments service founder suggests, is due to the fact that tech you wear on your wrist can be associated more readily with geek-jewelry.

“I think the movement you see around Fitbit, Up and FuelBand, that seems to be the next step in wearable” he argued. “So something on the wrist that feels natural, almost feels a bit like jewelry.”

Some have taken Dorsey’s apparent affection for smartwatch-style tech as an indicator that Square will explore an app for such gadgets, potentially allowing for payments to be made without having to pull your phone out of your pocket. Square is best known for the credit card swipe dongles that plug into iPhones and iPads; however, the company has also been exploring other, less traditional methods of customer recognition, including geofenced apps that flash up the user’s face on the cashier’s terminal, allowing them to be recognized in a more passive manner.

For Glass to fit into daily use, Dorsey suggests, the technology will need to assimilate more readily, as well as potentially give the market time to come to terms with a computer on your face. “I think it might be a 10-year answer, but not in the next five years” he concludes. “Maybe if they’re in sunglasses or what not.”

Square CEO questions value of Google Glass is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last night’s 60 Minutes featured Twitter founder Jack Dorsey timidly answering questions about his company Square, not having an office or desk, and tweeting. Riveting stuff. More »

Square’s quest for small business domination continues in the form of Business in a Box, a convenient, all-in-one package that intends to get small businesses up, running, and using as many Square products as possible. More »

This week the folks at Verizon have revealed their new collaborative efforts with Square and the Square Card Reader – mobile payments made utterly easy! This little device plugs in to the headphone jack on your iOS or Android device and allows you to take payments via credit card or Square Gift Card – easy as pie. The actual device costs less than the credit you get on your Square account (good as cash, essentially) at $9.97 (with $10 Square credit on your account when you start it up) – sound alright to you?

The Square Card Reader requires no contracts, you’ll have no minimum cash transactions needed ever, and there are no set-up fees. Essentially you’ll be heading in to your local Verizon outlet, tossing down a $10 bill and some change, and heading out the door with a brand new Square Card Reader of your very own. The way Square makes cash is to get a bit of a percentage for each transaction you make with the reader from that point on.

The fees you’ll be working with here is 2.75% of every swiped transaction or 2.5% and 15 cents for each sale that’s manually keyed in. All funds moved with your Square account are automatically deposited in your real-world bank account within (or around) 24 hours, and your whole account can be managed online. In addition to squareup.com, you’ll be able to check your balance and work with basically all of your account information right out of the box with one of several Square apps.

The iOS and Android versions of this app are essentially the same, with the iPad-specific app bringing on some additional management tools you’ll only otherwise be able to access in a web browser. Verizon begins selling the Square Card Reader on the 31st of January, 2013, and you’ll be able to pick them up nationally at most Verizon Wireless stores.

Will you be joining in on the Square fun? Or are you all about the NFC payments with your Google Wallet? If you’re an iPhone or iPad user, have you found any alternatives that you’d suggest as more awesome than Square? Let us know!

[via Verizon]

Square Mobile Payments hit Verizon: iOS and Android card readers ahoy is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It wasn’t too much of a surprise to see Starbucks begin accepting Square payments at many of its coffee shops last year, but the company’s latest expansion of that partnership is a bit more unexpected. It’s announced today that it has started selling Square card readers at some 7,000 locations across the US, letting customers pick up a means to accept credit card payments along with their beverage of choice. That’s only the latest retail deal for Square following partnerships with Apple, Walmart, Best Buy and others, and as with those the readers themselves are essentially free — you pay $10 up front, but get a $10 credit that you can redeem after you activate your account.

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals

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Source: The Next Web