Unfortunately, Square is a bit late to this game (though not out of it yet); while at an Apple store a couple of months ago, I noticed that they were selling credit card readers for the iPhone already, in nice Apple-like packaging. It was probably Verifone's device [1].
I had a client that was interested in this for the various trade events she had, but Square never followed up and seemed to be turning into vaporware. When I saw these other devices on the shelf, I recommended them to her.
Square certainly doesn't have a lot of room for not getting it right the first time at this point, unfortunately; I really dislike Verifone and would like to see someone eat their lunch, but they've had a several-months head-start.
It works with iOS, provides a ruggedized housing and extra battery, comes with a barcode scanner, and encrypts your credit card number, and has a toolkit already for use with Xcode. You can sign up with Braintree or TrustCommerce and use their RESTful APIs. No extra charge.
This device looks like it's easy to lose. I don't know. If I were a customer, I'd be sketched out by that thing. The ones at the Apple Retail stores (Linea Pro) look legit.
EDIT: Opportunity for someone to make a product with IPC Linea Pro. Verifone's the only player. Why not add some stress with the Linea Pro device?
Agreed--these guys have been around for quite some time. I do think they are really just starting to take off though. I just got my reader about 3 weeks ago (It had been on order for almost 3 months).
i don't think they started actually shipping large quantities of readers until recently, though.
In any case, if you're freelancing and want to accept card payments, it's pretty good. I'd been doing a project and had been using an authorize.net processor, but square is cuter and, more importantly, has much lower processor fees than most other places with not even half the overhead (i.e. crazy account setup/maintenance fees/etc).
I noticed problems with their card reader when using with an ipod touch, but on the iphone, it's been pretty good.
I've had the same issues--it's not perfect yet but they've done some great things in terms of software and service UI. Card reader is a little janky though...
Downvote all you want but I honestly don't see too many other use cases for this besides "peddlers" of things. Would you really ask a client to swipe their card into your phone like this instead of writing a check?
No downvote from me, but I doubt drug dealers will like this much. This thing creates email receipts, tracks date, time, and location of transactions, and holds your money in an online account that is connected to your bank account. I'm pretty sure that people doing illegal stuff will stick with cash.
I had a client that was interested in this for the various trade events she had, but Square never followed up and seemed to be turning into vaporware. When I saw these other devices on the shelf, I recommended them to her.
Square certainly doesn't have a lot of room for not getting it right the first time at this point, unfortunately; I really dislike Verifone and would like to see someone eat their lunch, but they've had a several-months head-start.
[1]: http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/09/smallbusiness/iphone_credit_...