VeriPhone's PAYware Mobile Credit Card Reader Units Gets Green Light from Apple

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It’s nice to be able to ring your customers up on the go, but will VeriPhone’s Payware Mobile units be able to compete with Adafruit’s Square credit reader for iPhone and iPod Touch payment system real estate? Interested buyers say yes. The VeriPhone PAYware Mobile unit, after having an impressive demo at Macworld a few weeks ago, has just received a thumbs up from Apple. The deal hammered out is for retail space in Apple’s brick and mortar retail stores and is necessary for the PAYware Mobile units to be able to compete with Adafruit’s rival credit card reading device made for iPhone and iPod Touch.

While VeriPhone aims to take a piece of the ‘iPhone and iPod Touch payment system’ pie, critics say it will take more than shelf space to compete with rival, Adafruit’s Square, the main reason being cost. The Square charges only a per-payment charge or transaction fee, while PAYware’s service includes multiple fees. With PAYware you get charged an activation fee, sent a monthly bill and still have to pay those per-payment charges. While Square offers a more affordable choice, it has peeked peoples interest that Apple, for some reason, is willing to offering VeriPhone’s PAYware system right along with the iPhone or iPod Touch.

The answer to this mystery may lie in the reader itself. Adafruit’s the Square is much smaller in size. The Square, is well… a square, that plugs into your iPhone or iPod Touch headphone port. The credit card reader, on the PAYware mobile unit is much bigger and takes up the entire iPhone dock, which actually makes it look more like it’s part of the phone. Both readers read the credit card by swiping and let you sign for your purchase on the iPhone or iPod Touch’s screen.

In the end it will probably come down to preference, usability and price. Either way iPhone and iPod Touch customers interested in on the go commerce, will now have more than one payment system to choose from, which is benefit enough for Apple in my book.