During Praveen's talk this past Tuesday he showed us a glimpse of the Paypal Here feature that, like Square, will allow payments to be taken using an iPhone or Android Phone. The two are very similar technologies. Square, which has been around since 2009 has a made a great first splash in the mobile payment business. Co-founded by Twitter's Jack Dorsey, they are now a billion dollar company and have the financial backing of Richard Branson (of Virgin fame). They are the current leader in the space, but are still relatively unknown by many. Enter Paypal! They are hoping to use their strong brand recognition to leap over Square in this mobile space. They are also slightly undercutting Square with a 2.7% transaction fee instead of 2.75%.
Another company to consider in the mobile payment space is Google with their Google Wallet via NFC. NFC or Near Field Communication is built into the mobile device and uses simply swipe their phone up against a compatible payment taking device from the retailer. Google is really pushing this technology, but the verdict is still up-in-the-air as to whether or not it will take off. Experts say that it could be up to 3 years before we know if this technology will be embraced by the public.
I personally do not use any forms of mobile payments at the moment, but it's nice to see that competition between all of these companies is making the landscape that much better for both the consumers and sellers using these offerings. Like the Blu-Ray and HD DVD battle of a few years ago, it will be interesting to see which company prevails.
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