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Starbucks will kick off its Square payments system in early November, with the system expanding to support digital tipping for your favorite barista in summer 2013. The news follows the addition of Starbucks loyalty card to Apple’s Passbook in iOS 6, and will see around 7,000 US locations taking the Square Wallet payments from next month.

Square and Starbucks announced their deal to use the mobile payments upstart back in August. At the same time, Starbucks cut out its existing credit and debit card processing partner, replacing them with Square’s backend, and invested $25m in the firm.

As the mobile app provision increases, Square and Starbucks will make buying a cup of coffee even more straightforward. Passbook will automatically flag up the Starbucks Card on the iOS device’s lock screen when they enter a store, and they’ll be able to pay by “swiping” their phone.

The agreement was lauded as reducing Starbucks’ processing costs as well as increasing Square’s footprint as a payments service provider and making it more likely that users would take the time to install the mobile app. However, the addition of tip support – although tardy after payments in general have been accepted – will offset any shortfall in tipping to store staff themselves, who might suffer from a reduction in cash payments for smaller amounts.

Square hits Starbucks in early-November; Save your tips until Summer 2013 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Lower Manhattan, Pearl Street, the Financial District. A Starbucks with broad windows, great for people watching. Sipping my $5 flavored coffee, I watched a homeless man sit on the sidewalk. I liked him immediately: his sharp gaze and thoughtful expression. When I left, I squatted down next to him and put five bucks in his jar, contributing the cost of my first-world coffee to the man’s case for survival.

We talked. He knew his tech, this man of no possessions, describing his favorite productivity gadgets of the past decade, scorning Apple for form over function. He had been living on the street day and night for two years. My five dollars was “huge,” he said. I knew that was true only microcosmically. He liked cigars. That’s where the cash would go.

Meanwhile, Starbucks had recently cut a deal with Square, one of the hottest startup stories of the season, so that people with five dollars to spend on coffee needn’t pull out a wallet and ponder their privilege.

Continue reading Editorial: Square gets the attention, but credit cards rule

Filed under: Tablets, Wireless, Software

Editorial: Square gets the attention, but credit cards rule originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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To mark 25 years of dungeon crawling (and soft-resetting), Square-Enix has packaged together all of its core Final Fantasy titles for this elaborate fan-baiting package. Alongside discs for Final Fantasies I through XIII, the games-maker has packaged a numbered presentation plaque — replete with new artwork from renowned character artist Yoshitaka Amano — alongside a two-disc soundtrack and commemorative DVD. The price of a limited-edition slice of Final Fantasy heritage? A total of 35,000 gil yen, (around $450) will net you the compilation, which lands on December 18th. Japan residents can hit the source for preorder details, while global enthusiasts can read up on the full title (and format) breakdown — there’s no news of an international release just yet.

Filed under: Gaming

Final Fantasy Ultimate Box goes from PSOne to PS3: All 13 games for $450 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 06:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Been paying for your frappuccino via Square, and fancied getting some of that diminutive payment-taking action for your own business? Well, previously, if you didn’t live near an Apple store, Radioshack, Walgreens, Fed Ex office, Best Buy, Target, UPS or Wal-Mart then you were fresh outta retail-luck. Or living in a cave. Now, however AT&T has started stocking the card readers at all its bricks and mortar outlets too, further plumping-up that number of locations that stock it. Frankly, we’re not surprised to see this reaching more shops, if the sales guys spend all their time drinking that brand-endorsed coffee.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Square scores retail deal with AT&T, swipes smile off competitors’ faces originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square is most often pitched as heaven for small businesses, but that 2.75 percent cut per transaction is sometimes a problem for stores that are too successful. Enter a new flat rate option. Shops that don’t take more than $250,000 a year in Square payments, or charge more than $400 in a given sale, can instead pay a flat $275 per month regardless of how many swipes they take. The deal makes the most sense for businesses handling more than $120,000 a year through the reader, establishing a definite limit to its usefulness; this isn’t exactly for a budding jeweler (or Starbucks). Even so, the simplicity of the rate might be very alluring for companies that aren’t keen on surprise costs or working out the math, and it’s a contrast to the half-steps towards flat rates taken by VeriFone and other, more traditional outlets going mobile.

Continue reading Square intros flat-rate payment option at $275 per month, hits small business sweet spot

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Tablet PCs, Internet

Square intros flat-rate payment option at $275 per month, hits small business sweet spot originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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