Congrats on their launch, but I honestly can't see too much of a market for their product. I would expect most businesses to get a proper merchant account and maybe a mobile payment device from Verifone or Visa.
Square can't compete directly with those companies which have established brands and a long history in the payment industry. They might be able to target the folks who only occasionally need to process credit cards - say at a farmer's market, food cart, or when selling something on Craiglist.
But are there really enough people doing that are:
- Too small to get a full merchant account
- Not willing or able to use PayPal
- And wanting to take credit cards instead of cash/checks and eat the fees?
I'll definitely have mine next time I have a garage sale. I think semi-licensed SF street cart vendors should be overjoyed. Et cetera. I think there's a long tail of uses for debit/credit for which an easy solution has not existed.
One of the uses I thought of was when a waiter does not want to or cant split a bill, simply pay for it and have your friends pay you. You still need to cope with fees but whats a couple of $$ between friends? ( If you are cheap you can take the 3% off the tip for the waiter )
Its also a great use for people who do on-site IT work they can charge on the spot. Just swipe the customers card and you're done.
Square can't compete directly with those companies which have established brands and a long history in the payment industry. They might be able to target the folks who only occasionally need to process credit cards - say at a farmer's market, food cart, or when selling something on Craiglist.
But are there really enough people doing that are: