Credit card reader Square has been doing pretty well in the US, with over 800,000 customer, processing over $2billion last year, and has some big name backers, including Richard Branson, and now a UK company, mPowa, wants to emulate that success over here.
This new breed of technology allows vendors who have previously been unable to accept credit and debit card payments the ability to do so, with the use of a gadget that connects to a smartphone.
The mPowa car reader looks a lot like the Square reader, plugging into the headphone socket of an iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone. An app on the phone allows vendors to track transactions and send receipts via email or text message.
mPowa take a cut of every transaction, either 25p or 0.25% of the transaction value for all major credit cards, whichever is the greater, and look after PCI compliance.
Here’s how mPowa explain their service themselves:
Square has come under some criticisms over its security and how it can best combat fraud, yet this doesn’t seem to have slowed its progress too much. mPowa is going to have to ensure that these problems don’t become an issue for them, but by being the first to do this in the UK they may be able to steal a march on some of the other big providers who will be looking to enter this potentially large market.
There is a company that is trying very hard to be like Square. I think mPowa has a relationship with Barclay’s Bank which is helping them for power.
mPowa looks quite promising to me.I like it better than Square for its going to charge only 0.25% instead of the hefty 2.50% Square charges.Also it works great for pin & chip,mandatory for UK merchants!