| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Jack Dorsey Jim McKelvey |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Area served | United States |
| Key people | Jack Dorsey (CEO) Keith Rabois (COO) |
| Website | squareup.com |
| Type of site | Mobile payments |
| Launched | May 2010 |
Square is an electronic payment service, provided by Square Inc. Square allows users in the United States to accept credit cards through their mobile phones, either by swiping the card on the Square device or by manually entering the details on the phone.
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The original inspiration for Square occurred to Jack Dorsey in 2009 when James McKelvey (a friend of Dorsey at the time) was unable to complete a $2,000 sale of his glass faucets and fittings because he could not accept credit cards. McKelvey explained this problem to Dorsey who built a working prototype of Square.[1]
The name "Square" refers to the Square card readers which are square in shape. The name also refers to the commonly used phrase for payments: "Are we square?". However several other names were also considered and then rejected, these names include squirrel, stash and wallet.[2][3]
Introduced in early 2010 by Square Inc.,[4] the Square application is available for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android-based mobile phones.[5] Square was co-founded by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey.[4] Dorsey also serves as CEO, Keith Rabois as COO.[4]
Square currently has more than 100 employees.[6]
At the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in May 2011, Square announced the release of two new apps, Card Case and Register. Card Case allows customers to view merchant menus, do mobile payments, receive virtual receipts, and discover other Square-enabled merchants. Square Register is point of sale software aimed at replacing traditional credit card terminals and cash registers.
Square's current office is located in the Chronicle Building in Mission Street area of San Francisco.[6]
Square received angel investment from Marissa Mayer, Kevin Rose, Biz Stone, Dennis Crowley, Shawn Fanning, Ed Cramer, and Esther Dyson.[7]
Square received Series A funding from Khosla Ventures.[7]
Square received Series B funding from Sequoia Capital.[7]
Square received Series C funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.[7]
Square's current valuation is more than 1 billion dollars.[8]
Square currently provides its card readers for free to its users. The Square app is also freely downloadable from the App Store and the Android Market.
Square charges a fee of 2.75% on every credit card transaction. This rate is higher than the rate charged by conventional credit card processors, but Square claims that the conventional credit card processors also include many hidden costs which are never disclosed to the customers. Square claims that its costs are, on average, lower than the costs charged by the conventional credit card processors.[9]
Square consists of the following components:
The card reader is a plastic device which plugs into the audio jack of an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android based mobile phones.
The card case allows customers to set up tabs and pay with their names. It also enables them to receive electronic receipts.
The Square Register is available for the iPad and it provides a point of sale credit card management system.
The Square App is available free of cost for iOS and Android and can be downloaded from the App Store and the Android Market respectively.
Square's Technology is PCI compliant and Verisign certified.[10]
Square uses strong encryption on its devices, these include SSL and PGP.[10]
Square's cryptographic keys are at least 2048 bits in length.[10]
Card numbers, magnetic stripe data, or security codes are not stored on Square client devices.[10]
Square follows the guidelines issued by OWASP.[10]
The Square product has been praised for its ease of use, simplicity and elegance by Business Insider. Many have said that Square is very much "like an Apple product". Jack Dorsey has been favorably compared with Steve Jobs due to his entrepreneurial vision and charisma.[11][12]
Square's website squareup.com has been praised for its elegant design and aesthetic appeal.[13]
Square's product was also showcased at the Apple's iPad 2 event.[14]
Square has been praised by GigaOM for being a disruptive innovation.[15]
In March 2011, rival payment company VeriFone claimed that the Square system was insecure, and that a "reasonably-skilled" programmer could write a replacement app which could conceivably use the Square device to skim a credit card and return its details. VeriFone posted a demonstration video and sample skimming app to its website.[16] Dorsey called VeriFone's claims "neither fair nor accurate", noted that the card data could be gathered visually from the card, and said that the claims ignored the fraud protection provided by card issuers.[17]