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Square Launches NFC Reader to Bring Apple Pay to Smaller Businesses

Monday November 23, 2015 6:02 am PST by Mitchel Broussard
Mobile payments company Square today announced the launch of its new NFC reader within 100 small businesses around the country, letting stores who previously were unable to accept Apple Pay -- due to the lack of a required contactless reader -- begin supporting the service (via USA Today). The small square-shaped reader will act like all other Apple Pay-accepting terminals, letting users wave an iPhone or Apple Watch near the device to complete a purchase.

square reader
"Until now, technology like our new reader has been out of reach for local businesses," said Jesse Dorogusker, head of hardware at Square, told USA TODAY via email. "Now Square sellers across the country can quickly and easily accept the new forms of payment that are crossing their counter tops."
Business owners can buy the Square reader for $49 to begin allowing customers the option to use Apple Pay in their storefronts. With the recent surge in popularity of chip cards, touted as being a safer and more secure physical payment alternative, the reader also has the option to accept chip cards in a small slot located on the side of the device.

Square initially announced incoming support for Apple Pay last November, with no real hint as to what the device would be. The company then announced the Square reader during WWDC earlier this summer, confirming its NFC and chip-reading capabilities would bring the success of Apple Pay to businesses and merchants who as of yet hadn't had the chance to support the service. Merchants interested in adopting Apple Pay can visit Square's official website to reserve their own NFC reader.

Tags: Apple Pay, Square
[ 170 comments ]


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konqerror
34 months ago

A bit expensive considering they make 2.75 to 3.5% (plus $.15) and fees on each purchase.


It's not that pretty. They take on high risk by accepting merchants off the street. Square is ultimately responsible for merchants that take the money and run, refuse to refund a defective purchase or go bankrupt before delivering the goods. They are also open to fraud, I've seen cases where criminals use their service to test credit card numbers, instead of going to a store or gas station where there's cameras.
Rating: 11 Votes
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2457282
34 months ago
I have always been a fan of Square (always thought that Apple should buy them out). Almost all the small vendors I run into, like the farmers at the farmers market, use square. I hope they will incorporate this little machine.
Rating: 6 Votes
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KPOM
34 months ago

Apple should have purchased Looppay. It was only $0.3 billon. Apple instead have been spending $20 billion to purchase stocks and burn them every year.

Why purchase Loopay when swipe cards are supposed to be phased out within a year? It's better to get people using NFC and chip cards.
Rating: 6 Votes
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geoff5093
34 months ago
This will be great for iPhone and Android users! See how nice it is when using common standards?
Rating: 6 Votes
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WAM2
34 months ago
My business is one of the 100!
Rating: 5 Votes
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realeric
34 months ago
Apple should have purchased Looppay. It was only $0.3 billon. Apple instead have been spending $20 billion to purchase stocks and burn them every year.
Rating: 4 Votes
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aajeevlin
34 months ago

It's not that pretty. They take on high risk by accepting merchants off the street. Square is ultimately responsible for merchants that take the money and run, refuse to refund a defective purchase or go bankrupt before delivering the goods. They are also open to fraud, I've seen cases where criminals use their service to test credit card numbers, instead of going to a store or gas station where there's cameras.


Thanks for the insight, never thought of it from this perspective.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Mad Mac Maniac
34 months ago
I hope to see more places adopt NFC like this...
Rating: 4 Votes
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rfahey79
34 months ago

Now if food trucks start using this....
I know it costs the merchant money but I would pay 0.50c - $1 more (for the food) to a food truck if I could just flash my watch and not have to dig out cash. Come on.....someone try this.


It would be a smart move for them, being a small business owner myself who's used Square since it was first introduced on the iPhone 3g and having done the math against other merchant systems; square is far cheaper per transaction than other offerings. Not needing to have an internet connected directly to the device is nice also. My business is on-site and many of my customers live where there is spotty cellular coverage. Square's offline-mode allows me to accept payment without the customer having to bend over backwards, or wait for a slow response from a 2g or less network.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Reason077
34 months ago

No chip and pin so of no use in Canada.
We have couple square stands for past two years and hoped that square would support.


Huh? The photo pretty clearly shows a chip card being used. I would think that to be an EMV-compliant NFC terminal, Square would need to accept Chip & Pin as well.
Rating: 3 Votes

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