The latest indispensible app to add to the already seemingly indispensible smartphone is the iZettle — a payment service that makes it possible for anyone to take chip and pin card payments. Justin Schamotta at Choosetakes a closer look…
Though currently only available in Sweden, iZettle is rumoured to be making its way across the North Sea this autumn. Like Square, iZettle is designed to benefit small businesses and individuals. This includes everyone from housekeepers and babysitters to artists, car boot salers and wager-loving friends.
And like Square, it presumably hopes to succeed on the basis of being novel and a way to “make payments magical and awesome,” as Square/ Twitter co-founder and chairman, Jack Dorsey, recently said in an interview.
The magical awesomeness certainly seems to be working for Square. The company started trading in September 2010 and received $100 million in new funding in June, which valued it at above $1 billion. In the past year, Square has shipped more than 500,000 credit card readers in the US alone. It is currently processing more than $4 million in mobile payments daily. Its COO, Keith Rabois, expects the company to double this volume by October.
When iZettle is introduced it will undoubtedly be just as swiftly taken up by the UK’s smartphone aficionados, and possibly break down the final bastions of smartphone resistance – such as the plumber who claims his 1st generation Nokia is sufficient for his needs.
The British already love buying things with their smartphones. According to new research from comScore, the number of UK smartphone users who visited online retail websites using their mobile devices increased by 163 percent in the three months to the end of May — far outpacing that of their European neighbours. It’s a safe bet that the iZettle’s introduction will boost overall smartphone usage – a prospect that will excite any online marketer.
To get started, smartphone users will need to download the iZettle app from App Store and sign up for an account. To take a payment, users start the iZettle app and plug in the chip-card reader.
The payment amount is entered together with a short description of the item being sold. The buyer’s card is inserted and the “pay” icon tapped. This provides a space for the customer to sign and confirm their purchase and to receive an emailed receipt. The money for the transaction will be deposited in the recipient’s named bank account by the next business day.
This is a guest post from Choose. The site covers rights issues, research and debate into the consumer credit card and more broadly personal finance markets.
