Between CES and Google’s press event, next week is bound to be a torrential mess of press releases. Looking to sneak onto the radar before every tech writer in the lands is pulled into cranking out post after post on the latest and great from the industry’s big guns, iPhone accessory maker Mophie has gone ahead and put their upcoming wares on the table.
Known primarily for their battery packs and cases, Mophie is about to jump into a whole new ball pit: credit card readers for the iPhone.
Considering that Mophie has thus far stuck solely to the hardware end of the iPhone add-on game, this seems like an odd market for them to dive into. So much so, in fact, that I initially thought they were just releasing the credit card reader (pictured above) as an alternative to typing your credit card into various applications by hand or, perhaps, as a more aesthetically pleasing piece of hardware for Jack Dorsey’s Square.
With a bit more reading, however, it looks Mophie might be prepping to square off (had to do it) against Dorsey’s service with a software solution of their own. Here’s what Mophie said on the matter:
Marking its first combination hardware and private label iPhone application device, mophie is launching its innovative new credit card reader, empowering users to complete financial transactions on the go.
The wording of that was just vague enough that it left things a bit unclear; they are indeed bringing their own software – but what was it for? Under that definition, this could still be little more than an easier (if a bit silly) way for consumers to input credit card numbers whilst ordering online. We prodded for more info – here’s the response:
The credit card reader works with an iPhone application and is meant for small business owners to conduct transactions easier.
So there we have it folks – Mophie’s getting into the transaction business. Whether or not they’ll be handling the payment processing themselves (as Square is) or simply acting as a middle-man for a service like Paypal or Authorize.net is still unclear. Look for more details to emerge during CES next week.
Apple uses Mophie’s in their stores now, to read cc’s and to scan barcodes.
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The core issue is whether Mophie provides merchant services to users. The way Square treats fraud and new merchant onboarding is actually where they are innovative.
A dongle maker or an iphone app maker that links to something like cybersource is not actually a real Square competitor.
My guess would be that the Mophie hardware and it’s software will be an additional option for a way to accept a credit card – but still using your own paypal acct or authorize.net account, similar to the apps available now, except with hardware as well. Great, but really only appeals to business owners who need to accept cards remotely.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the square is looking to do away with the paypal/authorize.net portion so it will appeal to *anyone*, much the way so many people have personal paypal accounts now. It’s great for business owners too.
I don’t doubt that Mophie will see success with their device, but I don’t think it’s a gamechanger anywhere near the extent that the square is.
Nothing in the quotes you mention say that Mophie is creating their own payment processing platform to square off with Square.
It looks more like Mophie is making a hardware device that existing iPhone app developers can utilize with all of the existing credit card processing apps that are out there…
Let’s be real. Square wasn’t the first to do credit card transactions on the iPhone. They are just the first to introduce a card reader to the device… that is unless Mophie beats them to a public launch.
What makes Square unique is they have built their own payment processing platform. They aren’t using Authorize.net, etc. It is more of a PayPal type platform.
My guess is if Mophie introduces their own iPhone app to work with their card reader… it will simply be an app that integrates with one of the many payment providers that already exist (Authorize.net, PayPal, etc.).
You’re right – Mophie hasn’t said yet exactly how they’re going about payment processing, so this isn’t necessarily a direct competitor for Square. Updated the article accordingly.
They have their own app. Trust me. This was also quoted from them “You can also use one of several other credit card processing apps on the market, so you aren’t tied down to the one from mophie.”
This kind of thing (a swiper with app that works with my current merchant account) is exactly what I and most small businesses are looking for. A great tool to replace those horrible credit card machines with.
Sounds like an easy way to commit credit card fraud for many purchasers… I do not typically need credit card processing on the fly in my business but I can see where it would be very useful for many. My concern would be the security implications of someone storing (even temporarily) your credit card information in their iPhone.
Interesting development… read my analysis of Square’s move here: bit.ly/6TmXH5
I predict this will be huge on construction sites. Everything from material/tool sales to the lunch truck that always shows up to early for the morning break and to late for the lunch break. LOL
This app could very well change the way small businesses operate, espically ones at the swapmeets and other very small businesses. May actually help companies get off the ground right away. Good for garage sales too!
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