In the U.S., a new start-up Square Inc. offers small businesses (often micro-merchants such as artisans and small mobile businesses such as gardeners) a device that turns compatible smartphones into payment card readers.
With Square, merchants can process card payments from any mobile location using their smartphone
Is Square and the micro-merchant market catching on in the payments industry? Jack Dorsey, one of Twitter's co-founders, launched Square in 2010 and since then it has shipped over 800,000 payment card readers to merchants and currently processes over $2 billion in payments annually.
But what is garnering some attention on top of the fairytale growth is that one of the world's savviest entrepreneurs, who typically resides on the retail side of business, is now investing in the technology behind those retail purchases. On November 8th, Sir Richard Branson announced his foray into the mobile payments sector with an undisclosed investment in Square. It's a clear signal that micro-merchant payments is a rapidly evolving sector where advances in technology and security, coupled with a growing familiarity of electronic payments, continues to stimulate consumer and business demand for convenient electronic payment options.
Central 1 Technology and Payment Services