Square has been live in Canada since last October and the company is happy with its adoption. At last count there was a total of 3 million users in the United States and Canada – those are the two current counties that have Square active. In addition, during a conversation last week with Jack Dorsey, Square’s founder and CEO, he stated that they’ve successfully processed $12 billion in mobile transactions.
For those unfamiliar with the service, Square offers a mobile card reader that allows individuals and businesses to securely accept mobile payments by their iOS (iPhone, iPad) or Android device. Today the app has been updated for Canadians and gives iPhone and Android users the same experience as on the iPad, basically bringing the Square Register point-of-sale features into your pocket.
Since the app has been completely overhauled, Square Register now acts as your sole point-of-sale system and allows you to accept credit cards and cash; track your inventory by name, photos, and price points; plus generate real-time analytics on how your business is doing and what products are selling/not selling. These price of the app is still the same, free, but for every credit card transaction Square takes a standard 2.75%. For a Canadian perspective I quickly spoke with Mario Grassa, owner of Toronto solon called Hairspray N’ Gloss, and he noted that since using Square they saw an immediate increase in revenue and were able to keep track of their inventory, thus understand specifically what their clients buying habits are.
Square is currently only available on iOS and Android. I asked if there are any plans of expanding the app to BlackBerry or Windows Phone, Dorsey stated that “we generally have a mindset of going where our customers are. Right now our two big platforms for us are iOS and Android. I think BlackBerry needs to settle a bit more, in terms of the SDK and development. If it becomes a huge thing that customers want then we’ll definitely do it.”
As for what’s next for Square, they revealed when they launched in Canada that “Square Wallet” would be available sometime this year. Dorsey confirmed that “yes, we are going to be bringing it to the country. We’re not sure on the timeline just yet. We’re doing a lot of work on that to make it great and want to make sure that as we go out to the markets that it’s at that level, and it’s not quite there yet.”
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